


Light

by unknowableroom_archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Humor, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-06-16
Updated: 2006-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-19 02:26:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 160,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12401196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowableroom_archivist/pseuds/unknowableroom_archivist
Summary: COMPLETE. Lily and James hate each other. A lot. But when a prank is taken too far and Lily makes a stupid mistake by bragging to her sister about a boyfriend she doesn't have, everything tumbles downhill from there - or does it?





	1. Home Again

**Author's Note:**

> Note from ChristyCorr, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Unknowable Room](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Unknowable_Room), a Harry Potter archive active from 2005-2016. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project after May 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Unknowable Room collection profile](http://www.archiveofourown.org/collections/unknowableroom).

**Author's Note: Hey... Just to let you know, this is the first long story I've written - the beginning has pretty short chapters, and not quite up to the writing I think I do now, but it grows with the story! (Considering I worked on the story for four year, I'm sure the writing style changed... :D) I'll post other chapters on this story soon!**

**Light**

**Chapter One: Home Again**

_Eurgh_ _!!!_

Lily screamed as loud as she could and threw herself down onto her bed. _That stupid Potter!!! I hate him, I hate him, I HATE HIM!!!_

A knock came on the door to Lily's bedroom. "What!?!" she yelled.

On the other side of the door a tall, skinny, horse-faced girl walked into Lily's room. _Petunia…_ That was not what Lily wanted right now. 

As Lily looked at her younger sister she remembered why they were now sworn enemies.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was a beautiful day as Lily got up, the sun streaming down in on her face. When Lily dragged her feet out of bed she grabbed a hairbrush on her nightstand and began to brush out the knots in her long crimson colored hair.

"Morning!" Petunia yelled as she ran, barging into Lily's room and jumped onto her bed.

"Good morning," Lily mumbled, not exactly awake yet.

After she had finished brushing out all of the knots in her hair, Lily and Petunia made their way down to the kitchen table. Their house wasn't very big so their kitchen wasn't that enormous either. On her walk in she grabbed a bowl, cereal, a spoon, milk, and sat at the four-sided table. She didn't even need to turn to get something else - it was all on her way in.

When she sat down she kissed her father sitting to her left and her mother sitting to her right. Petunia sat down across from her and grabbed the cereal from the table near Lily.

Petunia was dressed up almost exactly like Lily - except her hair was already put up into a stump of a ponytail and she had put some kiddy make-up on herself. Even though she was still in her pajamas, Petunia had already put up her hair and made up her face how she was going to have it for the rest of the day.

Lily inwardly shook her head and laughed. _Sisters…_

Her mother got up from the kitchen table and walked over to the door on the other side of the kitchen and picked up the mail from the mail slot. She sorted through the letters and passed out envelopes to each person at the table.

Though the Evans' weren't very rich, they were _very_ social - except Lily. She liked quiet and silence unlike her sister who loved to talk and would never shut up or even listen period!

Lily had one pen pal named Louisa in Spain who knew English but other than that that was it. No one else. Petunia, on the other hand, had about ten pen pals and sometimes mixed up their names while writing them their letter. Lily kept them all straight, however, and would always proof-read her letters (at least the introduction where it had the name.)

Her mother, Christine Evans, laid down a stack of bills in front of Lily's dad, put down a stack of envelopes in front of Petunia and tossed a letter to Lily. "Um, Mum? Is this mine? I just got a letter from Louisa yesterday and I haven't even responded yet."

"Yes, Lily, it's yours. It's addressed to you. It even has your room on it too…"

Curiously Lily looked at the front and sure enough there it said, "second door on the right." Lily opened up her letter and was NOT braced for what she read.

"Mum," Lily whispered, not believing what she saw. "Mum!" she cried a little more urgently.

"Yes, dear," Christine mumbled.

"MUM!" Lily yelled.

"Lily, what is it?" she said, not very patiently.

"MUM!!!" She said again. Lily felt like she was glued to her seat and couldn't move and with defeat, Christine got up and walked around to the back of Lily's chair.

"Oh my God…"

"What?" came Petunia's _very_ annoying voice. "What is it?!?"

"Honey…" her mother whispered.

"WHAT IS IT?!?" Petunia yelled.

"I'm not going to St. Marie's anymore daddy…"

"HELLO?!? WHAT IS GOING ON!?!?" Petunia shouted, nearly as loud as a fire engine.

"Oh lord…" Will Evans muttered after he read the first line of the letter.

Petunia looked as though she were about to blow her top. Lily, thinking that it would be funny to leave her left out, would not tell Petunia what was happening. But then again, Lily wasn’t thinking.

"Petunia, I’m a witch. You know," she added seeing Petunia’s _very_ confused face, "magic, wizards, and wands. Potions and spells. Curses and incantations!" Lily shouted, overexcited, scaring her sister.

In record time – 30 seconds – realization crossed Petunia’s face. She and Lily danced around the kitchen.

"Congratulations!" Petunia said to Lily.

"Wait," Lily muttered. "What if this is some sick joke? What if a bunch of kids who gave me this letter is watching us now? I mean, I’ve never even heard of a Hogwarts school before.

"Hogwarts?" Petunia asked.

"Oh, that’s the name of the school."

"What a… name."

"Quiet, dear," Christine said. "Lily, sweetie, here’s what we’re going to do." Christine opened the envelope and letter and then proceeded to look at the front and back of both. "Aha," she whispered, finding what she was looking for and pulled a small note at the bottom of the envelope. She opened it and read it aloud.

" ‘ _For_ _wizarding materials, go to the Leaky Cauldron._ ’ " At this, Lily’s family looked at Lily confused. "I’ve never heard of a Leaky Cauldron before, Lily."

"I have! I saw it once!" Lily cried and again her family looked confused. "Trust me! It’s in the city." This was what Lily’s family called London.

"When did you go to London?" Will asked.

"Oh, a while ago. You know when we went to see your boss what’s-his-face," Lily replied restlessly. "Just let me get dressed and we’ll go, ok?"

"All right," her father said.

As Lily ran upstairs, a little pest seemed to be following.

"Hey, Lily, wait a sec."

"Yes, Petunia?"

"I don’t want you to be scared when you’re away at this – er – Hogwarts." Lily rolled her eyes. "Here," she said. "Take Cuddles." Cuddles was Petunia’s favorite stuffed bear and life-long friend.

"Petunia," Lily whispered, "are you sure about this? I mean, you love Cuddles! Why are you giving him to me?"

"I don’t want you to forget me." 

Lily smiled. "Petunia, I would never forget you."

Petunia smiled back. "Go ahead, keep Cuddles. I just want him back next year."

"Why next year?" Lily asked.

" ’Cause I’m gonna be there next year, silly. You won’t need Cuddles if I’m _already_ with you!"

Lily and Petunia hugged and left to get dressed.

/////////////////////////End of Flashback///////////////////////

"Next year" hadn’t come as planned. Petunia had never gotten a letter to any "Witchcraft and Wizardry" school. Petunia had turned as nasty as a horde of stinging wasps ever since that first day of school that same year. Petunia had begun saying that wizards and witches were "freaks" and she also refused to even say the name of Lily’s school. She would never speak to Lily unless forced to or had a particularly nasty insult about Lily and her school.

Since Lily had Petunia as a sister, she never had any of her friends over during the summer break. This made Petunia even happier thinking that Lily had no friends whatsoever! That was not true, though. Lily had two good friends: Breanna and Bella.

Unfortunately for Lily, she also had some enemies at Hogwarts. Lily was a Gryffindor, which was a house at Hogwarts. There were four houses at Hogwarts: Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin. Gryffindors and Slytherin were natural enemies. Let’s just say that Lucius Malfoy and Severus Snape were the ringleaders of the "We Hate Gryffindors" club.

Also, in Lily’s own house, she had enemies: James Potter, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. 

Ok, James Potter was the one who really played all pranks, jokes, and tricks on Lily. He was a straight A student and the leader of the prankster group.

Sirius was in on the fun of seeing someone else getting embarrassed. Sirius Black was not stupid and would have straight A’s though he goofed off during class, which got him into trouble. That caused him to have B’s. It wasn’t that he didn’t pay attention and didn’t learn the criteria – he just goofed off! Usually, Sirius was laughing and wouldn’t stop making jokes but at times he could be sensitive and caring. 

Remus was nearly a teachers’ pet because he, too, got straight A’s but that was the problem why the teachers also _didn’t_ like him. He was the brain of the group so, therefore, he thought up all of the ideas of the pranks. All of the teachers knew that he, somehow, was connected to the pranks with his ideas but the teachers had no way to prove it. 

Finally, Peter Pettigrew. He was a completely different story. He was a pureblood and practically a squib. Peter was as harmless as a flea and only stuck around the other three because he couldn’t protect himself. Peter was a small, fat boy. Those two combined with non-magical powers was _not_ a good combination.

In fact, that was exactly what brought Lily into this predicament. Today was the day that Lily was going home for winter break. She had dreaded seeing her sister but tried to relax herself. Anyway, James had pulled one too many pranks and Lily hadn’t retaliated for nearly a month now. She thought that if she ignored him then maybe he might stop pulling pranks on Lily.

Nope! James Potter, supposedly the hottest guy in the school, would _not stop pranking Lily!_

_Time to take things into my own hands_ , she had thought. _What did James Potter love best and sorely miss most? Flying! Of course!_

Without thinking twice, Lily walked right up to the 6th year dormitory. Peter and Remus were going home to their families for winter break while James and Sirius were staying at Hogwarts. Remus, Peter, and James were talking downstairs and Sirius was in the dormitory doing god knows what. As Lily walked into their dormitory she saw Sirius reading. _Hold on. Double take!_ _Reading_ _?_

"What are you reading?!?" Lily asked incredulously.

" _Triple M._ You know, _Mischief Makers Magazine_ ," he replied tonelessly.

"Ah, of course," Lily mumbled, beginning to relax. "Hey, Sirius, do you know where James put his new Shooting Star?" she asked, taking advantage of the diversion.

"Under the bed," he replied, not taking his eyes from the pages.

"Thank you," she replied joyfully pulling out James’ new broomstick. "Don’t tell James ok?"

"Mmm," he mumbled.

"Thanks again Sirius. Couldn’t have done it without your help!"

"Welcome," he replied.

"Lily hopped down the stairs and sprinted up to her dormitory clutching James’ Shooting Star.

_He didn’t see me. Good._

Lily shoved the broomstick into her trunk and heaved it down the steps and to where she boarded the train – but not without a good-bye present from James. (Also known as a dungbomb in the face.)

Lily did not have a pleasant train ride home. Seething about what James did before she left, thinking about how annoying Petunia was, and having no friends to comfort her because they had decided to stay at Hogwarts.

As Lily got off the train she walked as slowly as she could through the barrier to the muggle world and having to go home. Yeah, her parents were the best parents that ever lived on the earth and probably every kid’s idea of dream parents, but having Petunia with them just ruined Lily’s day.

The drive home was quiet. Petunia hadn’t said a word to Lily and Lily hadn’t said a word back. Their parents had seen both were upset with something or other and also didn’t say much. This left Lily with her thoughts and about whom else but James Potter. The more she thought about all of the pranks he would pull on her and how much he bugged her, the angrier she got.

Once they got home, Lily had immediately taken her trunk upstairs and locked herself in her room. This was where you joined Lily Evans.

**Authors Note: And that's chapter one! Hope you liked it - short, but a new chapter will be up soon...**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	2. Dreading

**Chapter Two:  Dreading**

_Eurgh!!!_

Lily screamed as loud as she could and threw herself down onto her bed. _That stupid Potter!!! I hate him, I hate him, I HATE HIM!!!_

A knock came on the door to the bedroom. "What!?!" she yelled.

On the other side of the door a tall, skinny, horse-faced girl slinked into Lily’s room. _Petunia…_ That was not what Lily wanted right now.

"Yes?!?" Lily asked sarcastically.

Petunia smirked, walked into Lily’s room, and sat on the corner of her desk. _Memo to self: use anti-bacterial spray later._

"I heard you screaming downstairs," Petunia drawled.

"So? It’s not like it was a secret!" Lily yelled back.

"I told Mum and Dad I’d check on you."

"Well, isn’t it just a zip-a-dee-doo-dah day," Lily said sarcastically.

"I thought that I could, you know, chat with you. See how you were taking on life, see how you’re doing in _your_ school," Petunia smirked, "see if you have a boyfriend…"

"Wait," Lily interrupted. "Just get to the point. Do you want some money or something ‘cause you’re not getting it."

"No, no, nothing like that," Petunia said. "So, do you have a boyfriend?" she asked and before Lily could answer she went on. "I do. His name’s Vernon Dursley and he wants to own a drilling company when he gets older and-"

"Petunia, cut the crap!" Lily yelled. "Do you want to know if I have a boyfriend or not?"

"Yes."

"Well, I do," Lily said. That was a total and complete lie. She had no boyfriend. She had one once but he was a Hufflepuff and a ditz. In fact, it was thanks to James that they weren’t going out anymore. The Hufflepuff kid, Amos Diggory or something like that, thought there was something going on between Lily and James. Now they were over and that was the only time that Lily had been grateful for anything James had done.

"You do?" Petunia asked surprised. "Is he – er – one of your sort?"

"Yeah, he’s a _wizard_ ," Lily said and sure enough she saw Petunia cringe.

"What’s his name?"

Lily, under pressure, thought of the only guy name she thought about most.

"James Potter."

As soon as Lily had said _his_ name she immediately regretted it though she tried not to let it show.

"How long?" Petunia asked annoyingly.

"Weeks, months, maybe years. I’m not sure! I lost track with all the fun we have together."

"Oh," Petunia mumbled and she set off to the hallway.

Once Petunia had left Lily lay back on her pillows and was an inch away from screaming – again.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()Hogwarts()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Once Remus and Peter had left and James had given Lily a dungbomb in the face, he walked up to his dormitory and watched Sirius’ expressions on his face while he read his magazine.

It _was_ very amusing watching Sirius after all, but James got bored after awhile. He looked at his bedside table clock. It read 2:30. It was time for his daily flying routine.

"Sirius, I’m gonna go fly, ok?"

"Mmm-hmm," he muttered.

James shook his head and reached under his bed and grabbed -

_Nothing._

"Sirius, have you been using my Shooting Star again?" James asked.

"No."

"Then where is it? I put it under the bed yesterday and I went out again this morning and I -"

"Lily took it," Sirius said.

"She – she what?!?"

"Lily came in and took your broom. She told me not to tell you but I never actually said if I would or if I wouldn’t."

"Sirius," James said, rounding on him, "But did you _tell_ her where my broom was?"

"Well, yeah, I did."

James grabbed Sirius’ Cleansweep and opened up the window.

"Wait! James!" For the first time in hours, Sirius took his eyes from the pages of _Triple M_. "What are you doing?!?"

"Going to get my Shooting Star back. No wait!" James jumped down from the windowsill and opened his trunk. He pulled out his father’s invisibility cloak and wrapped it around himself. He turned around and walked back to the windowsill pulling down the hood of his cloak. "Sirius?"

"Yes?"

"When I get back," James said, "you’re going to be _dog_ poo," and with a leap, James soared, invisibly, out of the window leaving a stunned Sirius, standing, left behind.

_Uh-oh…_

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James flew for an hour or two underneath his invisibility cloak until he found a telephone booth. Still wearing the cloak, he opened the door without any muggles seeing.

James pulled open the telephone book in the booth.

_Evans… Evans… aha! Will and Christine Evans._ James had heard Lily talk about her parents a lot and she always seemed to use their first name.

"This is too easy.," James mumbled as he memorized the address, but without warning the telephone booth door opened and a large man stepped in pressing James into a corner.

_Just my luck…_

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

It was nearly 6:30 and Lily hadn’t budged from her spot on her bed nor had anyone gone back in her room. 

When Lily smelled some of her favorite foods, she left her room to go down to the kitchen.

She saw her mother cooking and gave her a peck on the cheek. Then Lily pulled out dishes, glasses, and silverware and set it on the table. Lily’s mother was about to put the food on the table when the doorbell rang.

"I’ll get it! Petunia called. "It might be Vernon! After all, he’s coming back from Paris today!"

Lily shook her head and poured the milk while her mother put out corn on the cob, breaded chicken, and some rolls on the table.

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Petunia<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

"I’ll get it! Petunia called. "It might be Vernon! After all, he’s coming back from Paris today!"

Petunia opened the door but didn’t see who she thought would be there. In fact, he was quite the opposite. A boy not much older than her stood in the doorway.

Instead of being small and porky like Vernon, he was tall and slender. Instead of Vernon’s controlled, blonde hair, the boy had black, messy hair. Also, Vernon would have dressed up in suit and tie, showing off, but this boy in the doorway wore nothing of the sort. The boy in the doorway had a cloak draped around his shoulders. Petunia narrowed her eyes. _Like Lily…_

"Hi. Is, uh," he looked at Petunia skeptically. As far as he knew, Lily didn’t have a sister. She never talked about any siblings she had. "Is Lily here?"

"Who are you?"

"I’m…" James thought about whether or not he should use a fake name but thought he should just use real one. "I’m James Potter."

Petunia narrowed her eyes even more. "She’s not here."

"Oh. Well then can I just -"

Petunia slammed the door in his face.

Lily came running into the hall. "Petunia, who was that?"

"No one…"

"Petunia, I heard you talking to someone."

"Wrong house."

Lily, not believing her sister, went and opened up the door to see who it was. She saw a boy standing in the doorway, turned as if he were about to leave. He had obviously not moved, though. "Yes?" she asked. He turned around and she could have sworn she was about to faint if it weren't for the fact that both her parents were now in the room next to her.

"Hello, Lily," he said with a smirk on his face.

"Oh - my - god."

"How _are_ you?"

"What are you doing here?!?" Lily whispered urgently.

James just smirked. Petunia had left the room, which left an awkward situation with a disbelieving Lily.

James opened his mouth to say something but all of a sudden Lily's parents came running in followed by a scowling Petunia.

"Oh, Lily, you never told us you had a boyfriend!" Christine said, excited.

"Must've slipped my mind," Lily muttered under her breath with a smile plastered on her face.

"Yes, Petunia told us and we just had to come and meet him!" Will exclaimed, holding out his hand to shake.

"Oh," James said, a little confused. "I'm not - " but he was drowned out by Lily's voice.

"I need to talk to James for a second, ok?" Lily said and dragged James off to her fathers' study without waiting for an answer. She pushed James into a chair while Lily started to pace back and forth. Finally she spoke.

"Potter, you made a _big_ mistake coming here."

"Evans, what's going on? Why do they think that I'm your - your - _boyfriend_ " he spat, as if it was repulsing. Then he started to get a sly grin on his face. "Or did you tell them that you are madly in love with me and you couldn't face the truth that I wasn't your boyfriend and I had enough _sense_ to like _sane_ people and so you lied to your family so that they would think that you were going out with the most popular boy in school and the most - "

"Absolutely annoying and ugliest guy in the school!" Lily yelled to make him stop rambling on and on about himself.

"I was _actually_ going to say - "

"Shut _up_ , Potter!" She yelled, threateningly

"So, what's the story?" he demanded.

"Well," Lily muttered looking uncomfortable, "I was just coming to that part."

"I'm waiting," James sang in an annoying tone.

"Ok, fine!" She took a deep breath and told him what happened talking at hyper-speed. "You see, you, obviously, made me mad so I took your Shooting Star. You got me mad some more and I was thinking about you - no! Not _that_ way," she said seeing his face.

"Oh really?" came that _annoying_ voice.

"Anyway," she continued, "I thought about how _mad_ I was at you." She gave James a look. "Petunia - oh she's my sister, very annoying - well, she came to me gloating about how she had some boyfriend and she wanted to know if I had one," Lily looked up at James' expressionless face for the first time during that conversation.

"Well, I said yes." Again she looked at his face, but it hadn't changed more or less since the last time she looked. "She asked who, even though she doesn't go to Hogwarts. Remember how I was thinking about how _mad_ I was about you playing pranks on me? Well, I panicked and thought of the first male name in my head and yours was first…" James now had his head in his hands and was moaning quietly. "Now," Lily exclaimed rounding on him, "why did you have to come to my house?!?"

"I thought that was obvious! I want my Shooting Star back!"

"Well, why didn't you just send an owl?!?" said as though it were the most obvious choice. 

"Are you kidding?" James asked, now standing up and moving inches in front of her face. "Would you have given it back?"

"Well, no. I was actually planning on keeping it till next summer," she said casually while James' jaw dropped.

"Next summer?" he whispered. "No - wait - you can't do that! I'm the best Gryffindor Chaser! I _need_ to have a fast broom! I can't use one of the school's old ones!" James yelled. "You know what? You're a devil in disguise."

"Ooh, how did you find out?" she said in mock surprise. "I'm a devil in disguise as an angel," she said, twirling her hands around in the air. "Anyway, I never heard of a rule that the "star" Chaser _needed_ to have the best broom there was. And you ticked me off! I _will_ , however, give it back if you don't play pranks on me for the rest of the year - INCLUDING your friends - and you also have to play along with this whole," Lily wrinkled her nose in disgust, "boyfriend/girlfriend thing. If you don't then _I_ won't hear the end of it from Petunia and _you_ won't get your broom back." James gave her a piercing glare and saw that she wasn't joking.

"Fine."

Lily smirked and pushed him outside. "No wait!" Lily dragged him back in by the collar of his robes.

"What now?!?" he asked irritated, crossing his arms.

"We've been "together" since Christmas last year, we can't call each other by our last names, and no one - I repeat _no one_ \- knows about this at school. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, I got it."

"Good," Lily said and dragged him back into their kitchen. "Sorry," Lily said to her parents. "I just wanted to talk to James for a little bit. You know," she muttered, hoping she was giving James an affectionate look in which he returned it, "school stuff," she finished.

"Ah," Christine gave Lily a knowing smile. _As if she knew what was_ really _going on_ , Lily thought miserably. They didn't pursue the topic anymore. "I don't think that we have been properly introduced. I'm Christine and this is my husband William."

"Hello Mrs. Evans," James said and shook her hand. He did the same to Will and then said, "I'm James Potter."

"It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"Same for me but I'm really sorry. I have to go back to school. See, I only came here 'cause I just had to see Lily's face again." James put on a dreamy look, turned, and took a hold of both of Lily's hands. He looked straight into her eyes. _Damn_ , she thought, impressed. _He's a good actor._

"Oh," Christine said, sounding disappointed. "Well, can't you just stay for dinner? I made enough for an army!"

"Well," James whispered. He looked at Lily and he started to feel his hands getting crushed into dust. Not only that but Lily's bright green eyes were drilling holes through his soft brown ones. "All right." Immediately he felt his hands loosen.

"Great!" Christine squealed. 

**Author's Note:More soon!**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	3. Dinner and a Swingset

**Chapter Three: Dinner and a Swingset**

The Evans' family and James sat down at Lily's small four-sided square table with Lily and James crammed onto one side and Petunia on the opposite side.

James was about to start for the food but Lily and her family bowed their heads over their plates and held hands in a circle around the table. Lily looked up sharply and James followed suit also.

Will said the grace while James squirmed uncomfortably in his chair - especially when Lily's father was thanking that their "little girl" had a wonderful boyfriend. James had even looked up when Will said that and saw Petunia turning red with hatred.

When they finished, Lily's family dished some food onto their plates and passed it around the table. James had taken at least one serving of everything even though he didn't know what half of the food was.

He tried the chicken and thought it tasted wonderful. He was about to say "Compliments to the chef," through a mouth full of food but caught himself in time and said it at a more appropriate time. When he did say "Compliments to the chef," Christine smiled at him and, shocked, Lily looked up and gave the first and the smallest smile to him also. _Not so rude after all_ , Lily thought.

Everything was going as they had planned until James picked up the corn on the cob. He came from a wizarding family and had never had corn. Why, they didn't know.

He asked Lily what it was and, unusual to what she was like at school to him whenever he talked to her, politely told him what it was. "It's corn on the cob. Look," Lily said. She stuck two small picks in the ends of the corn and James did the same to his. "Good. Now you can put some butter or salt on it if you want, but personally I don't like either and I -" but James was already rolling the corn in butter and pouring large amounts of salt on it. 

"Ok. Well then," Lily said looking at him curiously. "Now you take a bite. See?" Lily took a bite of her corn and swallowed.

She looked at James expectantly. Slowly, he brought the corn to his lips and took a large bite. He was tempted to spit it at Lily to annoy her but a picture of his Shooting Star popped back in his head. He _did_ want his Shooting Star back. He would get it too - even if it killed him. Disappointed, James swallowed.

Soon James was deep in conversation with Lily's father on his right while Lily talked to her mother. "So," she asked, "what do you think of-" Lily forced out the name - " _James_?"

"Oh, he's a _very_ nice, polite young man and he is so kind!"

"If only you knew," Lily muttered under her breath.

"What was that dear?"

"Oh, I just said that he - " but, luckily, she was cut off by laughter and a scream. Lily's head snapped away from her mother's and looked directly at James who was doubled up with laughter alongside her father. Petunia was cowering underneath the table.

"What happened?" Lily found herself screaming.

"Calm down!" James gasped. "Your dad - joke - I had corn -" and at this point both of the men were rolling around on the floor in fits of laughter. Petunia got up from under the table showing the product of James' accident.

"Lily, darling, I just told James a joke!" her father said.

"Is that it?" Lily asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah!" James exclaimed. "But the funniest part," he gasped, "is _that_!" He pointed his forefinger straight at Petunia who turned beat red in part anger and part embarrassment.

Lily started to chuckle and soon found herself rolling on the ground alongside James and her father.

Petunia walked around the table and gave them all what she thought was a death glare but turned out to be more like a scrunched up face with her eyes half-closed. This, however, didn't help their laughter at all. Petunia stomped off with her mother following close behind with a towel in hand. Lily just barely had enough strength to get up and see her mother practically holding her breath so as not to laugh. This, also, didn't help Lily. _Thump_. Lily fell hard on top of James and both were laughing too hard to tell the other to get off or move. 

_That's a first…_

When their laughter had finally subsided to small chuckles here and there, Lily realized her head on James' stomach. Immediately stood up and stopped laughing altogether. _Figures_ , she thought miserably.

Will sat up. "I better go help your mother now."

"Yeah," Lily said. "We'll pick up."

After he left Lily turned to James. "You know, I never knew that you were so - so - what's the word I'm looking for?"

"Hilariously funny!" James supplied while he picked up the dishes and Lily filled the sink with water and soap.

"I guess so. That'll have to be the word…"

"Silly Lily," James sighed. "I'm _always_ hilariously funny! It's just 'cause you _obviously_ don't appreciate the fine art of pranking!"

"Ex _cuse_ me?"

"Well," James continued, "I just play all of my pranks on you!"

"Do you act like this all of the time?" Lily asked. "Do you get in trouble with your parents a lot? Do they even _discipline_ you?!?"

"Uh," James had focused all of his attention on the stack of dishes he had to dry. "I don't have parents anymore," he whispered.

"Oh my god," Lily muttered. She had stopped washing the dishes. "James, I am _so_ sor - "

"No," James interrupted. "It's not your fault. You didn't kill them, did you?" James asked.

"Well, no, but - "

"Hey!" James yelled, now facing Lily. He seemed to be staring her down and crushing his brown eyes into her green ones. "Drop it."

"Okay," Lily muttered, shocked to hear him sounding so serious for once in his life. This was _definitely_ not how James normally acted. He was even scaring Lily though she never got scared. But she'd also never _admit_ it.

James picked up a bowl and dumped the excess water Lily hadn't rinsed out onto her head and continued drying as though nothing had happened. Lily didn't move as the water slowly traveled down her head and dripped onto her shoulders. James had obviously used this diversion to hide his emotions and to lighten up the mood. She pulled out the sink faucet and sprayed James in the face. Setting it back down, she watched amusedly as he tried to wipe off his face onto his shirt.

Sure enough, James had retaliated by pulling out a handful of dungbombs and dropping them all on Lily's head. James couldn't hold in his laughter.

Lily saw this as a sign of war _. Well, it already was war_ , she thought amusedly. _This is just another common battle_.

Lily grabbed up the dish detergent and the water faucet while James pulled out some ketchup and mustard from the refrigerator. He moved closer thinking that he was already soaked and it couldn't hurt to be wet some more. He took careful aim for Lily's hair and clothes.

What an aim it was!

Lily and James fought each other for a few minutes and found out that they were actually enjoying themselves!

It was no less that fifteen minutes later then Lily's parents came back downstairs to see both teenagers covered in food, water, and soap - just like the kitchen.

Christine gave a small yelp as an egg was thrown into her face.

"Lillian Amy Evans!!!" Will shouted. Immediately both stopped and James looked over at Lily.

"You're first name is Lillian?!?" James asked incredulously.

"Shh!" she hissed looking at her parents, guiltily.

Christine started to laugh.

"What are you doing?!?" Will whispered, though loud enough so that James and Lily heard also. "We're supposed to yell and punish them!"

"William," Christine said gently, "don't you remember _us_ at this age? We'd goof off all of the time! I think it's natural for kids in love to act like this! You know, flirting constantly!" Both James and Lily turned red from embarrassment though, luckily, neither of their parents saw.

"Ok, Lily, your mother and I will clean this up. Why don't you go and run on outside before I change my mind," he said, dangerously.

"Alright!" Lily didn't even hesitate before she ran, flat out, to their backyard. James, however had gone back to grab his cloak.

"Lily?" he called into the silence. "Oh, Lady Lillian?"

"Boo!" Lily shrieked happily as she jumped on James, pushing him to the ground. Lily was happy to hear his breathing twice as fast as normal when she pinned him to the ground. Once Lily started to laugh, though, she could physically feel him relax.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" James asked, horrified.

Lily burst into a fit of giggles and James took his chance to pin Lily to the ground where she still laughed. James couldn't help but smile.

Even though James and Lily were - quite obviously - alone, he started to whisper. "Ya know, Lily, I bet you probably have the strangest family in the world."

"Excuse me?" Lily asked, her giggles subsiding.

"Well, your parents are the best anyone could ask for. I mean, who wouldn't punish their child and their 'true love'" - Lily blushed - "for covering their entire kitchen in food, water, and dish detergent? You virtually have the best parents in the _world_. Even _I_ can't say mine are better. Then there's your sister."

"Petunia." Lily muttered dryly.

"Yeah!" James said. "What's shoved up her - "

"James," Lily warned. "I hate her guts more than you can imagine, but she is still, sadly, genetically related."

"Whatever," he mumbled. He then realized that he had been sitting on Lily through their whole conversation. He blushed and stood up, allowing Lily to get up also.

They moved over to Lily's old swingset and began to swing. Well, Lily was, James just sat there.

"Lillian?" he asked.

With a tired voice, Lily responded. "Yes?"

"Do you have any other siblings that you haven't told anyone at school about?"

"No, James, I don't"

"Lillian?"

"What?!?" she asked, getting very peeved.

"Why don't you tell anyone that you have a sister who's a muggle?"

"Actually, James, I do. I've told Bella and Breanna."

"But they don't count." James complained.

"Yes they do."

"Ok, fine, they don't count for what I'm talking about!"

Lily smiled into the wind. She had known the whole time what he was talking about - just liked to torture him a bit before actually answering the question. "Do you mean why I don't tell anyone _else_?"

"Yes!"

"Because Petunia doesn't deserve to be mentioned."

"'Scuse me?"

"I told you. Because Petunia doesn't deser-"

"I heard what you said!" James shouted, exasperated.

"Then what do you want to hear?"

"I wanted you to talk into more detail about _why_ she 'doesn't deserve to be mentioned.'"

Lily hesitated. "No, I don't feel like telling you."

"Why not?" He had been working for over five minutes to get the answer "I don't feel like telling you." Well, he wouldn't accept _that_ now, would he?

"Maybe I'll tell you later."

"Ok," James said. He felt satisfied with that answer and knew he would never get past it. Once Lily set her mind to something, she got what she wanted. James felt his head where there was still a scar on his cheek. She _definitely_ got what she wanted when set to it.

"Lillian?"

"What do you want James?!?" she shouted.

"It doesn't seem right."

"What do you mean?" This was the second time that day James had scared Lily with that quiet, serious voice.

"I'm not sure…"

"James, how can you not be sure about something that doesn't seem right when you don't know what 'it' is?"

"I don't know."

Lily sighed and let her swing slow down lining up with James' swing.

Lily, about to propose they go back inside stopped before she spoke.

_Wham_. Lily and James looked at each other nervously as a scream sounded, shattering the air. Both teenagers ran inside, holding their wands. 

**There we go, chapter three! Again, I'll try to have more up soon! :D**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	4. First Kiss

**Author's Note: Chapter four... up in the same day as chapter three! (Gosh, I spoil you guys...)**

**Chapter Four: First Kiss**

_Holy Shit,_ James thought. _This can't happen to Lily's family. Not because of me._

In the front doorway of Lily's house stood, none other than, Lord Voldemort himself. No death eaters, no "sidekick," just Lord Voldemort.

Quietly Lily and James had snuck in through the back door without being seen. James and Lily had their wands out and were hiding behind a staircase up to the top floor of their house. Listening, Lily and James had started to panic. Mostly Lily, though. James had already been through this once before in _his_ life.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was James' third year and he had just gotten home for summer break. It was nearly dinnertime and James had just walked into their kitchen. He was about to sit down when he remembered he had left his watch in his room.

James' family wasn't like most wizarding families. For example; James' and his parent's bedrooms were in the basement while old childhood toys and other previous "forgottens" were kept on the top floor.

As James ran to his room he heard a knock on the door and he stopped at the steps. He closed the door with only a small crack left open and began to eavesdrop like normal. James had quite a talent at eavesdropping. He always had plenty of practice when he was a child and Ministry officials came to talk to his father and also had a lot of practice at school with his best friend, Sirius. What? He had to know when there were pop quizzes, didn't he?

His father opened the door and gasped while James saw his mother come into view as well. She, too, gasped. James wanted to know who was at the door but didn't budge from his spot.

"Good evening," a voice hissed.

James watched as his parents backed up and pulled out their wands. Finally, the visitor's face came into James' vision. He had to control himself so he wouldn't scream from fright. James had seen this face many times before in the Daily Prophet but never in person. The man in the doorway had two glinting eyes and slits for nostrils. This was the kind-of face that would haunt every human's dreams and turn them to nightmares. It would - well, you get the picture. It was a scary, ugly, snake-like face.

The _face_ in the doorway was that of Lord Voldemort.

"Where is the boy?" he asked.

"What do you want with him?" his father asked, bravely.

"You know," he whispered malevolently.

His dad hesitated and then ran to the stairs leading up to the top floor. "Run James!" he called, creating a diversion. "Run! _He's_ here!"

Voldemort raised his wand and shouted the death curse. " _Avada Kedevra_!" James had just witnessed his father's death. All of the air had been sucked out of his father's body and he fell, painlessly, to the ground. His mother gave a cry and ran over to her husband's lifeless body.

"No," she moaned over and over. "No, no, no…"

"Now, if you would please excuse me. I have some unfinished business. Don't think he could've gotten far by now," Voldemort said, walking upstairs.

"No!" His mother yelled. "I won't let you get him! Not even over my _dead body_!"

James couldn't take it anymore. He couldn't watch his mother die. He just _couldn't_.

Without a sound, James snuck down to his room and grabbed his broomstick. He threw open the window and flew out.

Nearly out of the yard, James turned around and looked back at his house. Quietly, he flew around to the front of his house avoiding all windows. Slowly, James popped his head up and looked through the kitchen window. Then, instantly, wished he hadn't.

Both his mother and father lie next to each other, dead. Voldemort had just come down the stairs, mad that he didn't find James.

James had been glad that his father tricked Voldemort. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten away.

Then it hit him. _He might've gotten away if he_ did _tell where I was._

Looking one last time at his parents, James noticed a face looking right back at him with murder written across it.

James straddled his broom and flew as fast as he could. He left his house, his block, and his city behind as he flew to Platform nine and three-quarters.

He stood and pounded his fists on the boundary between the muggle world and Platform nine and three-quarters. Trying not to panic, James thought of every spell he had ever heard of. After a few minutes of serious thinking, he had it.

" _Foraminis_ ," he muttered. He walked through.

The spell James had used was one that his father had used when James was a young boy. He had a meeting with Dumbledore once and needed to get through the barrier for a train to Hogwarts. (Their floo network had gotten temporarily disconnected because of a virus sent around in a ministry fireplace by accident.) James remembered begging to go with and getting to sit at the front of the train with the driver.

When James was on the other side he ran over to the empty train tracks. Again, James sat atop his broom and followed the tracks straight to Hogwarts.

Once he got there he opened the doors and flew to Dumbledore's office. Every now and then he would hear shouts from teachers but none were that of Dumbledore; therefore, James didn't stop.

Once he had reached Dumbledore's office he jumped off his broom. Five feet from the gargoyle, Dumbledore stepped out and looked curiously at James.

"Mr. Potter, it's the summer holidays," he said with a small smile. "You are supposed to be with your family and -"

"No!" James found himself yelling. "No! It's all wrong! This isn't supposed to happen to me! I'm just a kid…" James had backed up against the wall opposite Dumbledore and slid down in a heap. Soon James began to cry with his head buried in his hands.

"Hush," Dumbledore whispered. "Let's go up to my office. You can tell me all about what happened there."

Slowly they made their way up to Dumbledore's office. James broke down in sobs again in the chair opposite the desk.

"James, what happened? Why are you here? How did you find your way here?" Dumbledore asked, all of the questions rolling off his tongue until James spoke.

"I - they - dead!" he gasped, trying, unsuccessfully, to hide his tears.

"James, calm down. Who's dead?" Dumbledore asked, dreading the answer.

"Him." James spat out the word like it was a deadly word. "Him," he repeated again. "I swear on their graves I'll get _him_ someday!"

"James! Listen to yourself!" The mad glint in James' eyes had dissolved. He looked into the face of his headmaster. Immediately, James shrank back into his chair and started, once again, to cry with his shoulders shaking.

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "Sorry, sorry, sorry."

"No, don't be," Dumbledore said. "Now, start from the beginning when you're ready."

Taking a deep breath, James told the story; _his_ story.

After telling Dumbledore _everything_ , James had finished crying. Dumbledore now spoke.

"James, you are strong, brilliant, and brave. Tonight you have shown all of your strengths together plus much more; much, much more. Now, James, you can not stay here for the summer. You may stay at a friends' if they permit it -"

"I'll stay with Sirius," he immediately said.

"Then I shall write to them. Shall I tell them what happened or would you like to tell them yourself?" Dumbledore asked.

James hesitated. "I'll tell them."

"Alright."

"Professor Dumbledore, sir?" James interrupted before he stood. "I have a question."

"Then, by all means, ask it."

"Well," James sniffed, "Voldemort - when he came to my house - he wanted me. Why me?"

"Mr. Potter, you have gone through quite an ordeal tonight and deserve to know why. Therefore, I shall tell you."

That was the night James Potter learned who he _really_ was.

/////////////////////////End of Flashback///////////////////////

"What do we do?!?" Lily whispered frantically in the dark, jerking James awake from his daydream. _Daymare_ , he thought miserably.

"Well, let's wait."

"Wait?!? Are you nuts? We have to do something! I am not just going to wait here while he goes and - and -" James saw tears prick in the corners of her eyes. He knew what she was thinking. He had thought that same thought before.

"So, we meet at last. William and Christine Evans. What a pleasure," came a low hiss in the hallway.

"Alright," James whispered. "We'll go around in the kitchen and cast the - er - leg-locker curse."

"Leg-locker?"

"Do you have any better ideas Evans?"

"We could stun him or take away his wand or something."

"He's too strong. He could just push those easy spells away. Now, if we work together we could get the spell to work -"

"- and the leg-locker curse _isn't_ easy? Come on! We'll take his wand!" Lily complained.

"Ok, _expelliarmus_ remember."

"So," Lily whispered, "this is only a small chance we get? No back-ups?"

James swallowed. "No back-ups."

Slowly, Lily nodded. Turning, she walked around into the kitchen without letting Voldemort see her. James followed.

"Who are you?" they heard Will bravely ask. "What do you want?"

"Oh, yes, you are muggles. How could it have slipped my mind?"

"Come on, Potter. It's sooner or later," Lily whispered.

"Okay," James said, swallowing. "On three then. One."

"Two," Lily whispered.

"Three!"

" _Expelliarmus_!"

In an instant, Voldemort had turned his head and watched both Lily and James pull his wand from his hand and let it fall on the floor, just barely feet from Petunia who cowered away. Voldemort, however, only tripped backwards a bit instead of being slammed into the wall behind him.

"Well, you two have accomplished something greater wizards than yourself have not. You two, indeed, are very," Voldemort laughed, "very different. Not like many witches or wizards even. You two kids have stood up against the strongest wizard ever!" he said, raising his voice. "I can see things will be different from now on." Voldemort held open his hand and his wand flew straight back. Then with a small smile and a pop, Voldemort disappeared.

Immediately, Lily relaxed and ran over to her parents, hugging, kissing, and hugging them all over again.

"Who _was_ that?" her mother asked.

Lily's face became serious. "That was Voldemort," she said and James' eyes locked on her. She was the - well, he had to count. There was himself, Sirius, Remus, Dumbledore, and his parents. That meant that Lily was the seventh person James had ever heard to say Lord Voldemort's name. And, in this case, that was _a lot_.

"Who?"

"Lord Voldemort. Normal witches and wizards are too scared to actually say his name so they call him You-Know-Who or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named," Lily stated.

"Well," Petunia huffed before running up to her room, "you're not exactly normal, are you?"

James, his mind still reeling from the events that had just occurred, stood dumbstruck at Lily. He and Lily had just saved that - that - bitches' life! _That_ was how she was going to repay her sister? It was enough when Petunia would make fun of wizards and witches in general but it was too much when Lily just took it all without blinking. Her parents didn't even do anything about it! They only comforted Lily.

"Er, I'll be right back - _honey_ ," James said and ran upstairs.

It was good that James saw how the doors on the outside were decorated. Lily's had to be plain because she was never around. Petunia's room had to be the one across the hall and with tiny flowers around the door.

James turned to Petunia's door and knocked.

"What?" she screamed.

He opened the door and saw Petunia sitting on her bed holding her pillow, cradled against her chest. "What do _you_ want?" she hissed.

" _I_ want to know why you're such a - a -" he searched for a word in his mind that he would be able to say aloud without her screaming at back at him.

"A muggle," he finished lamely. "Why can't you accept Lily for being who she is? She's a witch. Big deal! I'm a wizard!"

"So?" Petunia shouted back bravely. "You're a freak too!"

"Technically, in the wizard world," James said, making up half of this as he went, "muggles are considered freaks from our point of view. But, you know. You better be happy that's all that Lily thinks of you. That _you_ are a freak." James had made this up and hoped that Petunia would never tell Lily he said this. "Just imagine what might happen if there wasn't an underage magic limit." James grinned nastily at the thought of Lily playing tricks that normally she'd play on James.

"What is _that_ face for?" she asked, getting scared.

"Oh, nothing. Just Lily and I learned some pretty bad spells and curses at Hogwarts." Petunia winced. "Nasty, they are," James finished.

"But - but - _she_ said you'd get in trouble if you do ma - ma - _magic_ ," Petunia forced out.

"Well, I take it Lily doesn't talk about me much around here does she?" James grinned. _This is so easy. Like taking candy from a baby_. "You see, my friends and I _don't_ follow _any_ of the rules. We're called the Marauders. We pull pranks on innocent people and break as many rules as we can! Hell, we've been out of bed so many times that we know Hogwarts better than the teachers!"

Petunia looked as though he were about to wet herself. _That'll do it_ , James thought satisfied.

"Anyway, don't make fun of Lily like that again. I _will_ find out. I know where you live." With that being said, James turned around and left, closing the door behind him.

With a satisfied grin plastered on his face he walked into Lily's room and grabbed his Shooting Star, then stopped.

_What did you just do?_ He thought.

_I just stood up for witches and wizards everywhere!_

_No…_ came that small voice in the back of his head. _You just stood up for Evans._

_No I didn't!_ he thought back. _Why would I do that?!? I don't like Evans, remember?!?_

_Yes you do,_ the voice stated calmly. _You have all along!_

"I have not!" James yelled desperately. _I don't like Lily - no - Evans!!!_

_I love to tell you this - I told you so…_

James blocked the thoughts and ran downstairs, clutching his Shooting Star.

"Er- Lily!" he said, spotting her on the couch between her parents. "I need to go back to school."

"Um, okay. Hold on." Lily stood up and walked over to the front door with James. She looked at her feet. "Thanks," she mumbled.

"For what?" James asked with a sly grin on his face.

Lily looked back up. She wasn't angry. She looked as though she was struggling to find the right words that she wanted to say.

James looked over Lily's shoulder and saw her parents watching them. Putting on an act, James leaned over and kissed Lily. A quick, soft, tender kiss. With that, he left a confused Lily and her peeping parents. Her parents ran over to Lily once the door closed behind James.

"My baby's all grown up!" She heard her father say distantly and her mother whisper, "do I need to have that talk with you?" but she continued to stare at the spot James had been previously standing in. Soon her confusement shifted to anger.

_He stole my first kiss._

**Author's Note: Of the early chapters, this was definitely one of my favorites! :D But don't worry... there's more...**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	5. Slumber Party

**Chapter Five: Slumber Party**  

He had been flying for nearly an hour now and still hadn't gotten _her_ off his mind. Why _exactly_ did he do that? He didn't like Lily! Why was this happening to him so suddenly?!?

Going through the events of the night once again, he remembered a small detail that might be of use.

_Sirius,_ James moaned. What would Sirius say when James got back?

Taking a slight detour, James bought three _Triple M_ magazines. _Yep,_ he thought, satisfied. _That'll hold 'em off._

When James got back, he had realized the whole time that he had been flying he only thought of Lily - Evans! - and not one bit about the stop Voldemort had made.

Flying through the open window, James stopped in front of his bed. No one was in bed yet. James threw off his invisibility cloak and ran down to the common room seeing Sirius playing chess against Remus and Peter struggling to do his Transfiguration homework alone.

So far, all was well and James was about to propose that he go up to bed when Sirius spoke. "So, James, what took so long?" Sirius smirked.

"Oh yeah!" Acting as though James had forgotten something, he pulled out the _Triple M_ magazines and gave one to each Marauder. "Maybe a small detour, but other than that I've been upstairs for a few hours reading them," James said, smoothly with a smile. He had always prided himself on his smooth ability to lie. "I bid you all good night." James left behind a struggling Peter, engrossed Sirius, and a suspicious Remus in the warm common room. After all, Remus had been in the dormitory no more than twenty minutes ago and at that time, the room had also been empty.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Pulling on her silky nightgown, Lily slipped into her bed, seething with anger. _Why did he do that?_ She thought. _Well, yeah, it was an act for my parents but why not on the cheek at least?_

Lily's mind had been overflowed with these sorts of thoughts ever since James had left.

_Knock, knock._ "Yeah?" Lily called.

"Sweetie? How are you?"

"I'm fine, mum…" Lily muttered.

"I just came to, you know, tuck you in," she muttered. Christine hadn't tucked Lily in since she was still afraid of monsters under bed.

"Mum, what do you _really_ want?" Lily asked.

"Oh, Lily," she sighed, sobbing into Lily's shoulder.

"What is it, Mum?" Lily asked concerned.

"You're growing up too fast and I can't keep up! I'm not even seeing it happen," she whispered. "You've got a boyfriends now and you'll soon be out of school, getting married, have small Lily's and James' running around the house and you'll have to talk to your baby girl when she grows up - but maybe you won't cry," she said as an afterthought.

"Much," Lily interjected. "Won't cry much. Mum, I'm not graduating _that_ soon and I _hopefully_ won't have mini me's running around all over the place soon either! I'm just sixteen!"

She sobbed, if possible, even harder. "No, Lily! You have no idea how soon it _will_ be!

"Well - uh -" Lily was struggling to find something comforting to say. "We'll have to just play it by ear," she finally said.

After a little more sobbing her mother spoke again. "I guess you're right," she whispered. "Now, lay down." Christine stood up and grabbed a Kleenex off Lily' side table. "You should get to sleep. It's nearly midnight." She pulled Lily's covers up to her chin and kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Lily."

As soon as her mother got to the door, she stopped and turned back around.

"Lily," she said softly, "I will always be worried about you. _Always._ But I also know that James is the right one. He is your light through the night, your beloved, your one and only: just like your father and I. As long as you are with him, my worries nearly leave me completely. He's yours, Lily. Keep him. Love him while you can. God knows what's going on in the world these days, honey, even _your_ world! Stay with the light and he will bring you home." With that said she left and closed the door behind her.

_Mum_ , Lily wanted to cry out. Her voice wasn't working. "I have no light," she whispered into the darkness, tears rolling down her cheek.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

A few days after James had gotten back, Remus had been following him around a lot more than usual. James _knew_ that Sirius had told Remus and Peter that he went to get back his Shooting Star from Lily but no one else acted as strange as Remus.

He tried to confront Remus once during Herbology but he just put on an airy voice. "It's nothing," he responded. "Nothing at all…" Obviously James didn't believe Remus but since he kept getting "nothing" as an answer he finally gave up.

It wasn't until dinner one night that James realized something Sirius never brought - and was _glad_ he never brought up!

James had left Sirius' broom at Lily's house. _Evans!_ he mentally corrected.

_Well, isn't it ironic?_

Disgruntled at getting only two servings at dinner with no desert, James trudged up to his dormitory. Grabbing his Shooting Star and invisibility cloak he jumped out of the window and flew to Lily's house.

_Evans!!!_

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Yeah, her winter break wasn't the _best_ with Potter at her house getting his broom and her sister not on speaking terms with Lily anymore, but it could always be worse.

This just wasn't her day.

Like her Headmaster had once said to her, "The best of us must sometimes eat our words," Lily felt like she had just swallowed each word of hers one by one whole.

As soon as Lily finished clearing the dishes at dinner, the doorbell rang. Wondering who would be crazy enough to want to make a stop at night to their house, Lily answered the door.

Guess who it was.

When Lily opened the door, she had to place her hand over her mouth to keep a scream from escaping her.

"Good evening, Lillian dearest." James bowed low in front of Lily. "May I come in?"

"What do you want?" Lily hissed. "Are you just trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Lily? Who is it, honey?" With a small apron wrapped around her waist, Christine walked out into the main hallway and saw James. "Oh, sweetie! How are you, darling? It's so nice to have you back so soon!" She ran over and hugged him.

Struggling not to laugh at James' face, Lily spoke. "Mum, I need to talk to James for a bit." Her mother gave her another one of her "knowing" smiles and left the room without hesitation.

Immediately, Lily turned and took out all of her anger on James. "Why are you tormenting me?!? You do realize we have to be boyfriend and girlfriend whenever you're here, right?!? Did you come here for a purpose?!? You also realize it's nearly nine, don't you?" Lily took a deep breath and was about to keep ranting when James decided to take his chance and put in his say in the conversation for a bit. Ok, the argument. James, honestly, couldn't even remember one conversation he had ever had with Lily that wasn't an argument.

"Hey, hey, hey! Lily! Lil, you need to calm down."

"Don't _ever_ call me Lil!" she hissed.

"Alright, just listen to me! When I came here I rode Sirius' broom over and rode mine back."

"Your point…"

"I will get to my point if you will just _shut your yap_!" James nearly yelled. He was glad to see Lily take a step away from him with a slightly stunned face. "Now, the point is I left Sirius' broom here somewhere. He hasn't remembered yet, though, fortunately. I will just get his broom, turn around, and leave. That's all I'm gonna do! I swear!" he added.

Lily still looked at him suspiciously but regretfully let him in. "Just get the broom and leave - no good-bye's to my parents, got it?"

"Whatever," he mumbled.

"Do you remember where you put it?"

"Er - not really."

Lily let out a moan of frustration and began to drag him from room to room. Finally at eleven, Lily was _extremely_ angry. Then a thought came and she began to worry.

"You didn't go into _my_ room, did you?"

"Well, yeah. I _had_ to get _my_ broom back after all," James said, as if it was the most obvious thing. Then it looked as though there were a light bulb that had decided to turn on. "Oh…"

"Eurgh!!!" Lily stomped up off to her room and, sure enough there was Sirius' broom, out in plain sight. Lily didn't know how she could have missed seeing the broom, but somehow, she did.

She walked out of her room, not seeing a shadow behind her. As soon as she got down to the bottom of the stairs she handed James his broom.

"Lily, you need to get to sleep." Lily jumped at the sound of her mothers' voice behind her. She turned around and saw her in her nightgown with a bathrobe over the top.

"Only Mum," Lily muttered, thankfully. She knew that her dad would have freaked out if he knew that a _boy_ was at her house past ten o'clock. Lily picked her words wisely.

"Mum, James was just about to leave and go home. He just left something here accidentally and came to pick it up."

"Yeah," James said, as he looked at Lily with one of his lovesick faces he gave to other girls who fall in his trap. " _Accidentally_."

Lily swore to herself the second that her and James were alone she would slap him silly.

Christine smiled. "You know, James, it would probably be better if you just stay the night. You know, with all of the dangerous things happening out there at night. Who knows what might happen to you if you were alone at night." Lily rolled her eyes. She didn't care if James got abducted by aliens from Mars and ate him piece by piece. The only thing she might not like about that predicament was that she would have to come up with an excuse for his friends. They would never believe Lily's story about aliens from Mars. Well, maybe Sirius or Peter, but definitely not Remus. He was just too smart.

"You know, Mrs. Evans - "

"Don't be ridiculous," her mother said. "Call me Christine."

"Ok - er - Christine. What I was going to say was that I've flown at dark before - "

"And I bet you're a great flyer, but I'm also a mother." She laughed as if she were laughing at a joke. "I think it best for you to just stay the night and then in the morning we'll have breakfast together and then you could be able to leave - if you want. You're always welcome to stay the rest of the day as well."

"Mum, honestly. He can just go. You wouldn't want Dad finding him sleeping here in the morning or - "

"Lily, relax. I'll tell your father. How about I just grab some blankets and a pillow and I'll set you up on the floor in Lily's room."

The teenager's jaws dropped. Christine ran off in the next room and came back nearly five seconds later dragging behind her a quilt and a flat pillow.

_She's not serious - is she?_

Lily could hear Sirius' annoying voice in the back of her head. _No!_ I'm _Sirius!_

She inwardly rolled her eyes.

"Come on, James. Let me you show you to Lily's room."

James was awestruck. He didn't know what to do. Should he keep insisting to leave or sleep in the same room as Lily? He didn't waste anytime making up his mind.

"No, Christine! I'll just go back to Hogwarts. It's not that far!" James crossed his fingers behind his back. "Honestly."

"James." Christine was looking pretty mad at this point. "You two are making it seem as if you don't like each other." Her eyes wandered over the two-foot gap between Lily and James - which James quickly closed by slinging his arm over Lily's shoulders so her mother wouldn't get suspicious. That, however, was not the problem at hand.

"You two," Christine whispered, dangerously. "Upstairs. March."

James, behind Lily, sulked upstairs to the same door he entered to find his own broom earlier.

Christine threw the quilt and pillow in on the ground near the door. Lily, still in her clothes, walked out with her pajamas in hand and went to change. She walked into the bathroom and changed as slowly as possible.

Lily walked back into her room with baggy flannel pants and a tank top on. Lily then noticed that James had taken off his cloak with a small T-shirt left underneath. Lily found her face heating up.

_Come on Lily! Snap out of it!_ she found herself yelling at herself. _Don't you remember what he_ did _to you?!?_

Immediately, Lily's face changed from pink-with-embarrassment to red-with-anger.

Lily pulled back her covers and climbed into bed. She began to sink into the comfort of her bed and her soft pajamas so much she almost forgot James was standing next to her.

Until he hit her.

"Ow!" Lily moaned. "What do _you_ want? You do realize that my shoulder's gonna have a bruise tomorrow, don't you?"

"…And that's my problem?"

Lily moaned again. "What do you want?" she repeated.

"Your mum said not to go to sleep yet."

"I wasn't going to sleep!" she half-yelled.

James rolled his eyes. "Well! Excuse me for thinking that closing your eyes while you're laying down _isn't_ going to sleep!"

"You're excused."

James crossed his arms and, stubbornly, sat down on the ground.

No more than five minutes later, Lily's mother came traipsing up the stairs carrying a glass of water in her hands. "I'll be in soon, kids."

James raised her eyebrow at being called a kid but let it drop.

Christine came back in with her bathrobe flying behind her feet.

Lily, instinctively, held out her hand and her mother took it. Both Lily and Christine held out their open hands to James who, suspiciously, took them. Both girls began to say a prayer.

_Now I lay me down to sleep,_

_I pray the Lord my soul to keep,_

_And if I die before I wake,_

_I pray the Lord my soul to take._

Lily began to add on to it. "I pray that Mum, Dad, and - " she hesitated, "Petunia stay safe through the night."

"Let's not forget about James, sweetie."

"Yeah, and James." Lily finished.

"Let's also pray for James' family that they stay safe, wherever they are," Christine added.

"Yeah," James whispered to himself. "Wherever they are."

"C'mon, kids." James rolled his eyes. "Hop on into bed."

James lay down on the hard, wooden floor and pulled the blanket up to his neck, but, unfortunately, the blanket was only long enough to cover his ankles. He tried to curl up in a ball but that just didn't work as well as it would on a bed. His shoulder began to dig into the wooden floor and James swore he would break his arm if he stayed in that position. So, James settled with cold feet.

"Goodnight, Lily," her mother said, bending down to kiss Lily on the forehead and give her a hug.

She then turned to James and kneeled on the ground next to him. "Goodnight James," she said and gave him a hug. James had to turn his head away from her afterwards so she would not see the tears forming in the corners of his eyes. The hug she just gave him was one of the first motherly hugs James got after _that_ day.

Christine clicked the light switch off and left. Lily and James hadn't moved since she left with both too afraid to fall asleep in the others' presence for fear of what might have been done to them when they wake up the next morning. James was the first to move, trying to find a more comfortable spot to sleep, but to no avail. Finally, James stood up next to Lily until she realized his presence.

Lily tried to ignore James for awhile but with no such luck. He just kept standing above her until she looked at him. Eventually, she did.

"What do you want now Potter?" she asked, crabbily.

"Can I sleep in your bed?"

Taken aback by the way the question was asked, Lily sat bolt upright in her bed and stared, dumbfounded, at James. "Excuse me?" she asked, shocked.

"Yeah, the floor's too hard. I wanna sleep in the bed."

"No!" Lily yelled, loud enough for James to be surprised but not enough to wake her parents in the next room over.

"C'mon Lily!" James complained. "We'll just switch - "

" - So _I_ can have the hard floor?!? I don't think so!"

"Please, Lillian, for me? For your _boyfriend_?"

Lily began to smile. "Alright, fine."

James nearly fell down. "You're - you're not _serious_ are you?"

"Well 'course I'm serious! Why wouldn't I be?"

James didn't know what to say. "Well, ok then, I guess."

"On one condition, though," Lily said, standing up from her warm, cozy spot in the bed.

"I knew it," James mumbled. "Ok, what's the catch?"

Lily began to pull all of her covers off of her bed. By the time she was finished, the bed was stripped down to the mattress. She picked up the flat pillow and the small quilt James had been using on the floor and threw it onto the bed.

"Hey!" James shouted.

"Shh!" Lily hissed. "You don't want to wake up my parents - trust me."

"Why did you do that?!?"

"Oh you know, Jamsie!" James rolled his eyes at the use of the "Sirius" language. "I didn't want any 'cooties' in my bed. Would you?"

James grumbled but sat on her bed anyway. Lily began to unfold the crumpled sheets and lay them out on the ground so that her back would be supported while she slept. Then, she lifted up the top cover and slid underneath it. "Now, go to sleep," Lily whispered grumpily. She obviously wasn't much of a morning person considering it was about five past one.

James curled up in a ball facing the wall. Lily's room was pretty bare and didn't have many decorations or anything up. All in all it was just a bed, a dresser, and a chair in a room: nothing special. This made it _especially_ hard for James to sleep considering he normally slept in a messy room with clothes all over the place and two other boys, snoring.

Lily had soon fallen to sleep while James still stared at the wall. There wasn't even a small crack to distract him so he could fall asleep. Her walls seemed to be spotless.

Choosing another angle James lay on his back, looking up and watching her ceiling. Again: nothing special. _Man, Lily's room sure is boring. I didn't think it would ever be this boring in another girl's room. But_ , James harshly reminded himself, _this is_ Lily's _room._

He rolled over again. One last chance for distraction. His eyes fell on Lily, sleeping soundly.

_She looks like an angel from -_

_Hell,_ that voice in the back of his head cut in. _And angels in hell are called devils. FYI._

James sighed and fell asleep. 

**Hope you liked it... :D**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	6. An Eventful Day

**Been on vacation, so it's been awhile... Hope you like the next chapter!**

**Chapter Six: An Eventful Day**

"Morning, sweetie."

"Hey," Will mumbled. "I'm gonna go downstairs. You just stay put." Will stood up and walked towards the door. There he turned and blew a kiss to Christine who caught it in mid-air. He smiled and shut the door behind him.

He went in to check on Petunia. Opening the door a crack, he saw her sleeping peacefully. Slowly he closed the door and turned to Lily's door. Like before he opened the door a crack and peeked in.

_Aw, poor thing_ , he thought as he saw a smile heap on the floor. Opening the door a bit further, he tiptoed inside and kneeled next to his daughter. He saw her blankets wrapped around her tightly while a small lock of crimson hair stuck out from the top.

Chuckling softly to himself, Will stood up, but he immediately wished he hadn't. There in Lily's bed was another body. Of course, it wasn't Lily's for hers was on the ground next to his feet. Beginning to panic Will searched the room for a heavy object. He found the lamp that he and Christine had bought for Lily when she was a small baby. Quietly unplugging it from the socket he held it over his head and crept closer to Lily's bed. Then, unexpectedly, the person in the bed opened their eyes and yelled. 

Everything happened like a flash of lightning. Will heard Christine in the next room over hop out of bed and Petunia across the hall fall off of hers. Lily, still on the ground behind his feet, sat up with such force that her head had hit the back of his leg causing him to fall backwards onto the floor.

And what a sight this was.

The door to Lily's room banged open and in comes a frightened Christine and annoyed Petunia. Lily seemed to be massaging her head while James just sat up in bed looking as if he was a small puppy dog caught sneaking into something he wasn't supposed to. Petunia walked out from behind her mother and felt her jaw drop.

"What are _you_ doing here?!?" she asked, horrified.

"I - uh - er - " James frantically looked between Petunia, Lily, and Christine. He didn't even dare to look at Will yet. Finally, James just decided it better to look at himself and not at any other living thing in the room.

"Don't panic, dad." Lily soothed, knowing the exact way on how to get around trouble. " _Mum_ insisted that he stay overnight in my room."

" _What?!?_ " Will had stood up off of the ground.

"Oh, sweetie, James just stopped by to pick something up!"

"Yes, to pick up my daughter!" Will yelled. Then, much more quietly, turned to Christine. "And your were crazy enough to let them sleep in the _same room?!?_ "

"What?" Christine answered innocently. "They're smart kids," she whispered finally. She, thankfully, didn't notice that the two kids had switched spots. That would have lead to several questions, no doubt.

"Dad, relax!"

"Lily!" Will shouted. "How dare _you_ tell me to relax in this situation! I can assure you that you will be grounded until you go back to your school wherever the hell it is!"

Every family member's jaw nearly fell to the floor. None of them had ever heard Will Evans swear before. Even if it was a small word it was a big deal for them all.

"Dad," Petunia started with an impressed look on her face. "I'm speechless…"

"Don't you start with me," he hissed dangerously.

"William, what has gotten into you?" Christine asked, sensitively.

Will spun to look at Christine no more than six inches away from him. He began pointing around the room at Lily then at James and finally his face began to crumble. He started to sob uncontrollably.

"Now, now, dear, we forgive you. You're a father. It's your natural instinct," Christine soothed. She wrapped her arms around him and over his shoulder made faces to show that the kids should leave them alone for a bit.

They nodded and left through the door quietly without Lily's father noticing.

Creeping down the steps the teenagers moved into the living room. Surprised at what met Lily's eyes, she stopped in the middle of the floor. Both James and Petunia, behind her, toppled into her and the three fell to the floor underneath the neatly decorated Christmas tree. Flustered, Lily looked up and sighed. "It's Christmas, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is, brilliant one!" Petunia yelled at her sister and stomped away to the kitchen. Lily rolled her eyes and stood up.

_How could I have forgotten today was Christmas?_

_I don't know! Maybe it's because stupid POTTER had to come and ruin your Winter break!!!_

Both Lily and James began to examine the presents surrounding the tree. Lily pulled out the presents and sorted them like she did every Christmas morning. Her father had five, her mother had six, Petunia had six, Lily had eight, and Potter had -

_Twelve?!?_

"Why on earth do you have twelve presents?!?" Lily asked. Well, more like yelled in a questioning way - but that's not the point!

James got a nasty grin on his face and lowered his voice so no one close by could hear. "Guess the ladies just like my good looks. But I still get presents from friends, 'course. I got one from Remus, Sirius, Peter, Sirius' mum, his dad, Hagrid - "

"You know Hagrid?" Lily asked, spinning around from her place at the tree to face James.

"Er - yeah? You have a problem with that?"

"Honestly, yes! I do! He's _my_ friend - _not_ yours." Lily replied.

"Actually, Lillian dearest, I really _hate_ to break it to you but he _is_ my friend!" James hissed back, merely inches from her face.

"Well, Potter," Lily replied, looking over her presents. "Aha! Remus sent me a present!"

"Um… So what."

"Hmph." Lily turned around and stomped away into the kitchen. James then collapsed into the sofa behind him and made a mental note to yell at Remus the second he got back. Well, not the _second_ he got back 'cause that might be just a _tad_ suspicious.

"Good morning, James!" Will greeted them all as if nothing had even happened. "Merry Christmas!"

"Um, Merry Christmas, sir," James replied, partially scared.

Will gave a hearty laugh. "No need to call me sir! Call me Will!"

"Right." James began to squirm nervously in his chair and, for once in his life, hoped that Lily would soon come back in.

The door opened - and in walked Petunia. _Damn_ , James cursed to himself.

She was carrying bottled water and had some buttered toast on the plate. She sat down next to her presents and began to eat.

James felt himself begin to drool.

"Petunia," Christine mumbled, "would you like to offer our guest any breakfast?"

Petunia took a quick look at James and turned back to her mother. "No."

"Petunia," she warned.

"No, it's fine. I'm not hungry anyway," James cut in.

"See," Petunia mumbled and continued to stuff food into her mouth.

"Now, James," Will reasoned, "you must be hungry! All growing boys are, after all! I was!"

"How about I just go on in with, uh, Lily and get something myself then." James hopped off of his spot on the couch and nearly ran into the kitchen.

"Poor thing," Christine muttered with a smile on her face. "He must love Lily a lot."

Will laughed along with her, however Petunia just sulked, saying nothing.

{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{#{# Kitchen #}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}#}

James left the sound of laughter behind him and joined Lily in the kitchen. She looked up and saw James as the door closed behind James with a snap. Slowly, hardly turning her back to James, Lily backed up and pulled out a steak knife.

James panicked. "Whoa! Lily! If you don't want me in here I can just leave if you want," he soothed, backing towards the door he had closed.

Lily let out a few chuckles and turned back to her apple on a cutting board. James sighed in relief.

"So," Lily said.

"So," James mumbled, heading towards the refrigerator.

"When are you leaving?"

"When I'm finished opening presents," James replied.

Lily looked up at James, hands on her waist. "With you that could take forever! After all you have _twelve_! I've never had more than ten in my whole life at one point!" James eyed her hands that had picked up the knife and were rapidly cutting the apple bit by bit.

"You might not want to cut so fast," James said. "You could chop off your fingers - not that I would care."

Lily averted all of her attention to James, knife still in hand. "You know, Potter, I am getting sick and _tired_ of you thinking you can do whatever you want! You just come traipsing into my house thinking you own it and _stay overnight!!!_ "

"Hey! I didn't _want_ to stay overnight!" James yelled back.

"But you _came_ here which caused you to stay overnight!!!" Lily held the knife at a point and walked toward James, poking him in the chest with it.

"Lily! What are you doing?!? Are you crazy?!?" James had backed into the counter and was facing death in the face - unless he could talk _her_ out of it.

Lily looked James dead on in the face. Her green ones blaring into his soft blue ones. Lily remembered the last time this had happened - only the other way around. Lily's chest began to rise and fall quicker than before. She dropped the knife to the floor just barely inches from her own toes. She spun on her heel and walked towards the back door out to their garden.

James' mind was in a blur and could hardly concentrate. So, his brain still not awake, James ran out into the snow barefoot barely noticing at all.

"Lily!" he called. "Lily! Get inside! It's freezing out!!!"

"What do you care?!?" she called back, running towards their swingset with nothing but a tank top and breezy pants on. No shoes. No socks. No coat. She would freeze to death if she stayed out here like this. Well, so would he. James ran to bring her in and, to his surprise, she ran away.

"Lily, you're going to get sick!" he called over the howling wind.

"Why do you care, Potter?!? Just leave me alone!"

James felt like he was going to slap her if he had the chance. _What a self-centered brat! Thinks she can tell me what to do! I think not…_

James, bravely, walked up behind Lily and grabbed her around the middle. Surprised, Lily didn't act at first but soon regained her senses and began to kick and scream for him to put her down.

"Let go of me, Potter!" she hollered. James didn't reply.

He finally made it through the door inside. He pushed her down into the kitchen chair and sat across from her.

"You're going to listen to me, Lily." He spoke calmly.

Lily didn't look. She knew what she would see once she looked. The same thing she saw the night she made a comment about his parents. Fierce, angry, blue eyes.

"I'm not sure why you just tried to practically commit suicide but - "

"I didn't try to commit suicide," she argued back, quietly.

"Lily, I didn't ask for a response yet. I told you to listen." Lily stayed quiet. _For once in your life_ , he thought.

"Now we are going to walk back into that room like civilized adults. You _will not_ have anymore of your panic attacks or whatever that was you just did. After all, you don’t want Petunia to think we hate each other - even though we do." After a few minutes, Lily nodded her head and stood up.

"Hold it, Lily." James stooped down to the floor where Lily was about to step and picked up the steak knife.

"Thanks," she muttered. Taking the knife, Lily placed it in the sink to be washed and took out another one to finish cutting her uncut apple.

"Uh oh…"

"What is it?"

"I'm having that feeling again."

"What feeling?" Lily asked, dreading the answer.

"You know. Remember when I was last here? And then Voldemort came…"

Lily didn't reply, just continued to cut her apple.

Lily finished cutting the apple after near misses of her fingers. "C'mon," she muttered, heading towards the family room.

"Took ya long enough," Petunia muttered. "We've been waiting for you to get back so we could open presents." Lily gave her sister a nasty smile and sat on the ground with James next to her.

"So," Lily said, turning to face towards her parents. "Can we open our presents now?"

"Dig on in," Christine said.

Lily and James turned hungrily to their presents. Lily opening a little slower than James. _After all, he has_ twelve _to open!_ Lily thought, miserably.

Lily had just barely gotten through her fifth present when James said, "I'm done! Lily, would you like to go to Diagon Alley with me?"

"You're finished?" Lily hissed.

"Yeah," he whispered back. "Is that so hard to believe?"

"Well, once you think about it being you it's not that hard to believe actually!"

"So, anyway, would you like to go down to Diagon Alley with me, _honey_?" James asked, putting his good ol' charm on.

"Now?" she asked.

"Well, after we get dressed, of course," James replied.

"But why?"

"You know," James said, lowering his voice, pretending her parents couldn't hear them when they really could. "So we can get away from everything. Maybe grab an ice cream."

Lily gave a flirtatious laugh. She was almost making herself sick. She hated flirting with any boy but the one time that she was _forced_ to flirt with one, he just had to be the one she hated most, didn't he? "Let me finish opening my presents first ok?"

"Ok," James whispered. He laced his fingers through hers and sat, waiting for her to finish opening her presents.

"So," Christine said, "what did you get each other?"

"Er - " Lily and James looked at each other nervously. Lily began to speak. "I, uh, got James a - "

"Now, now, Lily, you said we should give our presents later! I don't want you to spoil it for me!" James said.

"Yep, you're right! I'll tell you guys later, ok Mum? Dad?"

"Oh that's perfectly fine, Lily," Will said.

"Great!" James said.

After Lily and James were dressed, they said their good-byes and grabbed a little floo-powder.

"Hope you have fun at Dirt Alley," Petunia called, before they left.

"Now, Petunia, it's called _Diagon_ Alley!" James heard Christine say before he was swallowed up by the fireplace and hurled through the fire. After a sickening three seconds, James fell out of the Leaky Cauldron fireplace landing on his stomach.

"Never did get the hang of that," he muttered as he hoisted himself off the ground and watched as Lily fell in the spot that he had been in no more than two seconds ago.

"So, Potter, why did you bring me here?" Lily asked grumpily.

"Guess that fire ride didn't improve your mood much…"

"Well it wasn't so much the ride as it was the ending. After all, many rides at amusement parks always have those - how do I say it - _abrupt_ stops." Lily replied smoothly. "Now, why are we here?" Lily repeated, tapping the brick wall to get into Diagon Alley.

"I didn't want to hang around your sister, that's all."

"Right… Now, why are we _really_ here? I mean, you could've just left straight from home to Hogwarts on your broom!"

"I did say I wanted ice cream, didn't I?"

"And that's why you seriously came here? For some reason I'm not buying into that story…" Lily said as she put a gloved finger to her cheek as if she were thinking hard about something.

James shook his head and walked down the snowy street. "Why is it so hard to believe?" James asked.

"For example: why would you have brought _me_ along so _you_ could get ice cream?"

"Why are you answering all of my questions with questions?"

"No, Potter, why are you answering all of _my_ questions with questions?

"Can't you just answer my question Evans?"

"What question was that Potter?"

"Lily!"

"No, seriously this time, what was the _first_ question you asked?"

"I asked why you don't believe me! And I want a real answer this time!"

"Besides the most obvious fact that your name is James Potter?"

" _Yes_ , Lily." James was beginning to become extremely annoyed. Why did she always have to drag out one simple question?

James and Lily entered Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor and ordered an ice cream each. Lily sat across from James and continued to argue.

"Well, the next reason for why I don't believe you is probably that before we left you had a "feeling" and you haven't said anything about it since. Maybe you're like a seer or something. What if you could see the future? How strange would that be?" Lily continued to mumble to herself.

"Actually…"

Lily's ears perked up. "Actually what?" she asked curiously. Then her eyes began to glow like she knew something he didn't. "I'm right, aren't I? You _are_ a seer! I _knew_ it!"

"No! Evans! Shut up and _listen to me!!!_ "

Lily, startled, sat back in her chair and spoke not a word.

"I've really never told anyone this but you - uh - need to know."

Lily didn't move.

"Alright," James said, taking that sign as an "ok," from Lily.

He cleared his throat. How could he tell her what was going on? Boy would this be hard…

"Well, you know when Voldemort came to your house and he - er - tried to kill us all?"

"Of course! How could I forget?" Lily nearly shouted.

"Shh!" James hissed. "Ok," James lowered his voice, "you need to know that Voldemort is after - " James swallowed. "He's after Gryffindors."

"Huh?" Lily felt like she had been hanging onto a thread and then dropped straight to the ground. "Voldemort's after _Gryffindors_?"

"Er - yeah."

"Potter, do you have any idea how _obvious_ that sounds? I mean, why would Voldemort decide he wants to go after Slytherin - _his own house_!!!"

James knew how stupid and non-believable his story sounded - but it was his only choice! At least it was better than telling her the real truth…

Florean Fortescue had brought over their ice creams. With a hurried thank you, James, hoping to avoid any more discussion with Lily, picked up his ice cream and walked outside. He began to walk across the street but was barely halfway there when that darn redhead followed him out of the ice cream parlor door.

James tried not to notice her and keep walking but she still followed him, though not running to catch up. Lily seemed to want space from James. After James reached the Leaky Cauldron, he sat at the bar and finished his ice cream. He looked at the door waiting for Lily to walk through and, sure enough, she did.

They sat together at the bar and ate in silence. After James finished, he left his dish to be thrown away by the bartender

"C'mon, Lily, let's go! I need to get my Shooting Star and get back to school!"

Lily glared at James and stood up, taking one last bite of ice cream. Out of her pocket, Lily pulled a bag of Floo Powder and gave a handful to James and herself. Lily threw in the powder first and then hopped in yelling her destination. She tumbled out of their fire and managed to catch herself on a chair while James fell face first onto their floor after her.

Lily didn't try very hard to cover up her giggles. Ignoring James' attempts at glares, Lily walked into the next room where her father was laying, sprawled out on their couch. Shaking her head, Lily gently pushed his shoulder saying, "Wake up Daddy." James walked into the room and Lily ran out into their main hall, grabbing both brooms James had - and made sure she had both.

Lily returned. She handed James his broom and saw her Dad still sleeping on the couch. "C'mon Dad, James going to leave now!"

He didn't move.

Lily began to panic. "Dad?" She shook his shoulder again. And again. And again.

James now got involved in the picture. He bent down and picked up Will's wrist and began searching for a pulse like his parents had taught him to do once.

No pulse.

Slowly, James put Will's wrist down on the ground. Lily looked at James shocked with tears in her eyes. Not believing James' actions, Lily, herself, picked up her fathers' wrist and felt for a pulse with the same result. She hastily moved her hand to his throat and looked for another pulse. None.

"No…" she whispered. "He's not dead. He's still alive! I know it!!!" Lily was beginning to turn hysterical. James, doing the only fatherly thing he knew, took Lily in his arms and let her cry everything out on his shoulders.

"It's ok, Lily, you can get through this. We'll fix it and make everything all better." James repeated himself many times, comforting Lily and him, as well.

"No," she would moan. "It won't be fixed!" she would try to say but sobs slurred her words and she clutched onto James even harder, looking for comfort. Suddenly, Lily lifted her head off of James' shoulders and, with slight hope, whispered, "Mum."

James nodded and both left through the house in search of Lily's mother; James with dread in his stomach and Lily's with slight hope.

"Mum," Lily called quietly through the hallway. "Where are you?"

James felt so confused. He didn't know what was going on - yet, in a way, he did. The pain in his stomach increased and he felt like he would never again have a stomach. James searched his mind for what happened when his parents had died from the attack from Voldemort.

_Voldemort attacks quietly. Nothing was broken and next door neighbors know nothing about it. He leaves the bodies. Touches nothing._ James kept searching his brain for what he saw the night of his parents deaths. Anything strange at all…

James stopped following Lily and ran out their door. "James!" he heard Lily call behind him. "No! Don't leave me!" James didn't listen. He threw open their front door and ran out to the bottom of their driveway. Once there, James turned and looked above their house. James felt his legs weaken and collapse under himself. He made no movement of standing up again, however. He put his hands to face and moaned into them, praying for any help at all. _Why me…_

He heard the front door open and slam shut once again and saw Lily run out. She looked panicky and far better than James did. Why was _she_ having to comfort _him_?

James got to his feet before Lily reached him. He looked at Lily with her eyes bloodshot from crying earlier and her hair in a tangle from going through the Floo connection. James could see tears held back in her eyes, Lily not letting them fall. She had always stayed strong at the worst times.

Lily tried to calm herself taking deep breaths but to no avail.

"I found Mum," she whispered. "She's in the laundry room."

"Is she…"

"Yes," Lily said quickly, not wanting to hear the word. James had already known she was. James knew it was better sooner than later to show Lily what he had found.

"Lily, I'm really sorry, you know that?" James said, stepping up to the plate. He needed to gain Lily's trust first before he told her.

Lily nodded her head and one of the tears rolled down her cheek.

"I, uh, need to show you something. Lily, look up there." James pointed above their house and there were two dark skulls with a serpent protruding from its mouth. Lily, being separated from the magical world, had never seen this shape before. She, however, could take an easy guess at what it meant. 

Lily couldn't handle anything else anymore. She turned to their lawn and threw up her ice cream and breakfast. James, awkwardly, patted her back until she stood back up. By the time that she did, a car had pulled into their driveway and Petunia got out.

"See ya tomorrow, Vernon!" she called as she closed the car door. He pulled out of the driveway and sped off down the street. Petunia began to swing her handbag gaily and then saw both Lily and James near the sidewalk. "What are _you_ doing here? When are you going to leave?!?"

"Petunia!" Lily yelled with tears leaking out of her eyes with full strength. Petunia was taken aback by this action and began walking towards their front door. "Don't go in there!" Lily called.

"Why?" Petunia asked with a smirk. "What did you two do?"

James felt like he shouldn't leave Lily but he did and marched right over to Petunia and got in her face.

"You have no idea what just happened to her - to _you_ \- and you go and start making fun of her! _How dare you_ ," he hissed.

"What happened?" Petunia asked, backing into the door. "What's going on?"

James' face suddenly softened. "You - no - Lily. Lily has to tell you what happened. It's not my place," James mumbled.

Petunia ran over to Lily. "What happened," she demanded. Not asked, demanded.

Lily nodded towards James to answer but he didn’t. "Lily, this is _your_ sister and family." James felt guilty all the while, though, and felt like he should give Lily a break. _After all_ , James had been telling himself a lot lately, _it_ is _my fault._

Lily almost looked shocked but regained her composure and pointed towards the sky. Petunia looked. "What?" she asked, looking at Lily as if she were crazy.

Lily was astounded. "Can't you see it?"

Petunia made a choked sort-of laughing noise. "See _what_?"

Lily looked at James for help who stepped forward. "I guess muggles can't see it," he whispered into Lily's ear. She nodded and spit it out.

"They're dead. I came home from Diagon Alley and they were dead." Two large tears fell onto the pavement and Petunia turned stark white.

"Who's dead?"

Lily began to shiver in the cold and pulled her coat around her closer, seeking comfort. "Mum," she whispered. "And Dad."

Petunia shook her head, not believing Lily. She even turned to James hoping beyond hope that she was lying, but James just closed his eyes and turned away. Petunia, like Lily, cried. She began to run down the street in the direction of Vernon Dursley's house.

Lily, in turn, ran into their house, shielding her eyes from the most obvious. James followed and saw that she was picking up the Shooting Star and Sirius' old Cleansweep. She tossed the Shooting Star to James and took the Cleansweep for herself. "Which way to Hogwarts?" she asked. James could have sworn that if she went out in public she would look absolutely fine, but considering she just found out her parents died, James thought Lily had her feelings bundled up inside of her. Without any objections or complaints, James helped Lily. He didn't want her to get angry at him or have her give up without any hope left.

Stepping outside, both Lily and James fastened their cloaks and mounted their brooms. James flew the familiar path to Platform nine and three-quarters. Lily didn't say anything.

" _Foraminis_ ," he whispered, just like before. Both Lily and James stepped through the wall and sat astride their brooms again. They flew, following the train tracks to Hogwarts.

Neither of the teenagers spoke to each other throughout their whole flight to Hogwarts. They both seemed to be scared to find out what the other would say if they did talk. Only every now and then did one of them say, "the train tracks are turning left," or "watch out for the tree."

They landed on the front steps of Hogwarts and opened the doors cautiously. By this time it was nearly two o'clock and many students would be in their common rooms moaning about how much food they had at the feast or that they could've sworn they had gained twenty pounds. Lily and James hadn't had anything to eat since the ice cream. Both weren't hungry, though. Lily didn't even _have_ her previous breakfast or ice cream left, and she still didn't seem hungry.

Both Lily and James flew through the halls with teachers yelling behind their backs, but like before, James and Lily didn't care.

They reached Dumbledore's office and waited. They both had a gut instinct that they should just wait for him.

Soon after James and Lily sat down across from the Gargoyle, still not talking, Dumbledore walked down the hallway and spotted them. They hadn't spoken a word yet, in a way, Dumbledore had somehow read their minds and ushered them inside his office.

They walked past the gargoyle and up the winding staircase to reach a wooden door. Professor Dumbledore opened it with a turn and entered. "Sit down," he said and motioned towards the seats across from his desk. "What happened?"

Lily didn't speak. She didn't move. James thought that she must have stunned herself into silence. James spoke this time.

"Just like me, Professor. Her parents died." James heard Lily began to cry. He felt his shoulders relax. At least she still used her vocal chords.

"Same way?" Dumbledore asked cautiously.

"Same way."

"I see…" Dumbledore stood and walked around his desk. "You two stay here. I'll contact the ministry and have them pick up your belongings and bring them here. Do you have any relatives you could live with?"

Lily nodded. "Aunt Rose. Has no children. Visits us all the time."

Dumbledore nodded slightly and left leaving James and Lily behind.

Ten minutes passed without a word. James was becoming restless. He needed to go - just _go_. Lily hadn't moved since she first came in and it was beginning to bother James.

He stood and began to look at the items in the room. He passed objects of all colors, shapes, and sizes.

"Don't touch those."

James turned, shocked. Lily had just spoke to him. "Don't touch what?" James needed to bring the old Lily back or he, along with every single other Gryffindor, would be miserable. He decided his best way was through their old relationship; arguing.

"Don't touch _anything_ ," she said dangerously.

"Oh yeah?" James said, picking up an ancient book and narrowed his eyes at Lily. "Make me."

Lily stood and began to search through her robes for her wand. "Damn it," she whispered. "Where the hell is my wand?"

_Whoops_. Lily had left her wand at her house. She had also realized that and tears began to form in her eyes thinking of what _else_ was left at her house. Lily sat down again in the small armchair and continued to cry.

Dumbledore walked in through the door and saved James from having to comfort Lily in any way. "You both may leave if you would like now. Miss Evans, would you prefer going to the hospital wing to get freshened up?"

She nodded and followed Professor Dumbledore out of the door. James followed as well, only a bit slower.

Holding both of the broomsticks, James took them up to Gryffindor tower. He passed many people sitting in armchairs or on couches but didn’t stop to talk. He sped straight upstairs into his dormitory and shut the door behind him. He sighed and leaned against the door.

"Where have you been Prongs?"

James, shocked by the voice, backed into the door behind him, if possible, even further. "R - remus?"

"Bingo!" he said and crept out from his curtains covering his bed. "You woke me up. I needed a little sleep considering that the full moon is in two days."

"Oh." Remus always would have less sleep around the days that he would transform into a werewolf.

"So, where were you last night?" he asked again with his wolfish grin.

"Long story," he mumbled, turning away to search for one of the issues of _Triple M_ he gave to his friends.

"Well." Remus looked around at the empty room making a point that no one was around. "Sirius and Peter are raiding the kitchens. Keep in mind with it being _them_ , ya know, they may not be back 'til - " Remus made a big show of looking at his calendar next to his bed. "Hmm, probably a day or two. So, I have some free time on my hands."

James chuckled at Remus' joke and pulled out Sirius' magazine. He lay down on his bed. He flipped a few pages in the uncomfortable silence. Remus sat still on his bed without making a sound. This was one of the reasons why girls loved Remus. In a way, being a werewolf had helped Remus a bit with girls.

After nearly fifteen minutes, James threw down his magazine and looked at Remus, irritated. "Ok, you gotta swear you won't tell _anyone_. Not even Sirius or Peter."

"Wow," Remus muttered. "Must be something big not to tell Sirius."

"It is," James whispered. "Trust me."

"So, tell me this first. Is it a girl?"

"Yes - no - Well, sorta."

"Prongs, what on _earth_ are you talking about? It's not like half-girl half-man, is it?" Remus asked, puzzled.

"Ok, Remus, if you want to know what it is then _please_ shut your yap!" Remus tried hard not to laugh while hearing James talk like this but was unsuccessful. James glared at him.

"Fine, I won't tell you then."

"No, James," Remus said, holding his stomach, "just say everything without me talking. Go ahead. Spit it on out. I'll listen"

"Ok then. Well, it all started when Lily stole me Shooting Star - "

"Oh, God, you didn't fall in love with Lily, did you?"

"No!" James said quickly, shaking his head.

"Well, then, why did you call her by her first name?"

"You did that too!" James rounded.

"Yes, well, I call everyone except the Professors by their first name!"

James made a face at Remus. "Just stop talking!

Remus gave James one of his relaxed smiles and sat for nearly an hour listening to James retell his story - detail by detail. The only part he left out was when he predicted what would happen and, of course, his thoughts.

After James finished telling Remus about him going to Dumbledore's office just now, they heard footsteps coming up the stairs. James looked frantically at Remus.

"Don't tell anyone," he hissed under his breath as Sirius and Peter came storming into the room with their arms overflowed with food.

"Hey Moony, check it out! They even had some of the cookies that my _Grandma_ would make! They even taste _exactly_ the same!" Peter said, dumping his food onto his bed.

"That's great, Peter," Remus said, joining him on his bed.

"So, Prongs," Sirius said, "who's the lucky girl?"

"What are you _talking_ about, Sirius?"

"Come on, Jamsie! Last night? Where were you?" Sirius asked, raising his eyebrows at James. Remus looked over at James with that knowing look that he always had in his eyes. After all, he _did_ know.

"Well, last night I was playing Quidditch and lost track of time so I came in late and this morning I wanted to surprise Elizabeth. Ya know, my girlfriend in Hufflepuff? I guess, in a way, she was the lucky girl!" James said, trying to shift the topic a bit. He playfully nudged Sirius on the arm, but he didn't move.

"Ooh! You got some Chocolate Frogs! I love those! Man, Dumbledore's a pretty popular one isn't he," James said. He pushed his _Triple M_ magazine to the floor hoping that Sirius would grab for it and ignore James for awhile.

No such luck. Sirius just smiled a measly smile and stood up. "I'm gonna go walk around by myself for awhile."

Sirius walked back out through the open door and left behind his puzzled friends.

James looked at Remus and shrugged. He then went back to reading _Triple M_ without any worry. 

**I'll try to post the next chapter really soon!**

**Until then!**

**Yours truly,  
** **Amelia Bedelia**


	7. Puppy Love

**Author's Note: This was another one of my favorite chapters... I brought Sirius into the story - no one can live without him!**

**Hope you all enjoy!**

**< center>Chapter Seven: Puppy Love</center>**

Sirius walked through the empty hallways. The only exception was when a ghost floated on through every now and then. Instead of going to the kitchens, where Sirius spent a good third of his day, he headed towards the main entrance.

He walked down the slippery steps, strode past frozen benches, and made his way towards the icy lake. Near the lake was a tree. This tree sat in the middle of nowhere. There was nothing special about this particular tree - except that it was Sirius' tree.

Holding onto the sturdy branches, he hoisted himself up to the top so that he could look over the school grounds. The cold wind came by surprise and nearly knocked Sirius from the branches by surprise.

He felt small snowflakes land on his face and sprinkle his hair. He made no movement to brush them off, however.

After nearly ten minutes, Sirius climbed down into the comfort of the branches. He nestled into a corner and rested his head on the trunk and looked out at the castle in the distance.

It looked so welcoming during this time of year. Warm and cozy.

Sirius reached into his cloak and pulled out a pad of paper and muggle pen that he got from Remus' muggle family for Christmas.

No one would have suspected that Sirius was a natural artist. He took no classes to improve or used his talent to any advantage - except that one time when he and his friends made a map of Hogwarts.

No. Sirius used drawing as a way to escape everything. Even to create a fantasy world that wasn't there.

Sirius took a mental picture of the castle and began to draw on his paper.

He drew every single detail from the large door in the middle to every weave and dent on the roof. His thoughts began to drift, as they always would while drawing.

He began to draw harder.

_What is James hiding from me?_ he thought. _I know that he wasn't out practicing Quidditch._ I _was practicing Quidditch!_

The pen went through the picture. Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped the paper a few times. He muttered a spell and the paper was fixed as it had been before.

After a quarter of an hour passed, Sirius analyzed his picture. He looked back at the real image. The two pictures were nearly identical. If you hadn't have known that Sirius had drawn this, you would have thought that it was an ordinary muggle picture.

He folded the picture to the next page and imagined his friends sitting around the fireplace. He drew the face of James, Remus, Peter, and he himself all laughing at a joke. James, Peter, and Remus sat on the long couch while Sirius sat on the comfy armchair. He added details like shadows from the light of the fire and also added pictures and faces of others around them.

There, leaning in between them was Lily near James (naturally, as Sirius liked to picture them) Breanna ruffling Remus' hair ( _also_ how Sirius pictured them) and finally last, but _definitely_ not least, Sirius drew Bella sitting in his lap. Her arms were wrapped around his neck and she was giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Sirius sighed. _If only life were this kind._

He pulled out his wand and tapped the paper four times. The people in the picture began to move. Since the picture was from Sirius' imagination, the characters on the page were acting as well. Instead of all three girls leaving instantly, Lily wrapped her arms around James' neck, Breanna climbed between James and Remus to sit near Sirius, and Bella began to kiss Sirius full on the lips. The picture Sirius began to blush.

_Life sucks._

Sirius flipped through his picture collection. There were some he drew at the lake. Some were from his home with his family. Others were of Hogwarts and friends.

Sirius flipped to the last pages in the book.

These were his favorites of all of his pictures. There, in both color and black and white, were pictures galore of Bella.

Sirius, as you can probably tell already, was in love. In love with his best friend's enemy - or at least one of the enemies.

That was the one thing that kept Sirius from dating her. That was probably why he loved her so much. She was the only girl that he _couldn't_ have which made him want her _more_. To Sirius, she was perfect in every way. But, of course, thanks to James _having_ to hate Lily and all of her friends, Sirius was forced to hate her as well.

It was love at first sight. She looked like an angel to Sirius; she was a beautiful angel from heaven. She was the reason for Sirius' love of art. In fact, the reason why Sirius loved this tree so much was that this was the first place that he drew Bella's face.

Sirius kept flipping pictures until he arrived at one with Bella blowing kisses continually. He smiled.

After Sirius finished looking at Bella, he flipped back to the picture of everyone in the Common Room. Carefully, he tore out the picture.

Two small snowflakes drifted down and landed on Remus and Bella. Both shivered. Remus, the logical one, stood up and came back with a blanket. _Well, that's Moony for ya! Solution for everything!_ The Sirius in the picture, however, wrapped his arms around Bella's slim figure.

The real Sirius smiled.

_Whoosh._

A huge gust of wind caught the picture and sent it flying across the school grounds.

_I'm screwed._

Sirius jumped up from his spot in the tree and neatly landed on both feet perfectly. He tucked his paper and pen away hurriedly in his cloak and ran towards the run-away picture.

_If anyone got a hold of that picture…_

There would be no hope left for Sirius. His friendship with James would most likely be destroyed and Bella would never love Sirius at all.

Running at full speed, Sirius was still fifty feet behind the wind.

His conscience finally turned on. He put his frostbit hands in the snow. Concentrating hard on dark fur, long mouth and nose, and a different body shape, Sirius was turned into a large dog. He set off as fast as his hind legs would allow him to travel.

He let out a loud bark and a dog smile. Though, not noticing where he was going, Sirius ran into something.

Actually, some _one._

Looking up, Sirius saw long, dirty blonde hair fall down in front of a face. The girl, whom Sirius now recognized, pulled back her hair revealing the face of Bella Figg.

Sirius, the dog, whimpered and kept running. _There_ , he thought. In a corner near the castle was his picture. He carefully picked it up with his teeth and ran around to the other side of the castle wall.

Making sure that no one was watching, Sirius turned back into a man. He took the picture out of his mouth and checked it over. There were maybe one or two slobber marks - but that was always fixable. He pulled out his pad of paper and slipped his paper inside the front cover and tucked the paper away in his cloak.

Sirius took a deep breath. That was the closest he had ever been to Bella. His heart was beating three times a fast as normal and his head was swimming with hundreds of thoughts.

Casually turning around, he walked back to where Bella had been. She was still on the ground from where Sirius had run into her.

This was his chance. They were all alone. There was no James or Lily to ruin the moment. It was now or never.

"Uh - Bella!"

Bella turned her head. "Sirius," she acknowledged nodding her head.

"Uh, do ya need help up?"

"Yes, thank you." She held out her hands. Sirius took them without hesitation and pulled her up from out of the snow. His hands, that had been frozen, were now warm and tingly.

"Why were you sitting in the snow?" he asked, though he already knew the answer.

"I - uh - I don't know, honestly! There was this huge black dog and it just ran into me. Then the second that I turned to look at it - it had gone! Just like that!" Bella said, snapping her fingers.

"Like that, huh?" Sirius, too, snapped his fingers. "So, why are you out here?"

"I was just walking. Nothing specific."

"Oh really!" _Come on, Sirius! You can begin acting normal anytime now!_

Bella laughed. "Yeah, really."

"Need any company?" Sirius asked, crossing his fingers in his pockets.

"Sure, I guess." Thanking the lord, Sirius began to walk with Bella.

They walked in silence to the lake and began to walk in circles around it. "So," Sirius said.

"So," Bella repeated. The silence was killing Sirius - so he brought up the one thing they would possibly have in common.

"When do you think Lily and James are gonna get their act together and go out?"

A huge grin spread across Bella's face. "I am _so_ glad that someone agrees with me about those two! Breanna keeps thinking that we shouldn't push Lily to like someone she _thinks_ she doesn't! That's crap if you ask me, though!"

"I know!" _This is_ definitely _my destined true love._ "Remus is the exact same way!"

She giggled. Oh, how he loved her laugh.

They continued to talk about Lily and James and how perfectly they'd go together - until Bella sneezed.

"Oh, are you cold? Do you want to go inside?" Sirius turned away and held his breath.

"No, no! I'm fine! Really." She quickly said.

"Well then," Sirius said, letting all of his breath out in relief, "take my cloak." Immediately, Sirius took off his cloak and draped it around Bella's shivering shoulders.

"Um, thanks," she mumbled. "You know, no one would have guessed you were such a gentlemen the way that you normally act!"

Sirius didn't know if he should take this as a compliment or as criticism, so he just nodded his head, looking out at the lake.

"Hey, what's this?"

Sirius looked over at Bella and saw her fumbling with his pocket in his cloak - with his drawings.

"Oh! That - uh - that's just… nothing," Sirius mumbled, pulling the book out of Bella's frozen fingers.

"Sirius! Tell me what it is! No use keeping secrets from me 'cause I'll eventually find out one way or another!" Bella complained. She leaned in, inches from his face, showing off her puppy dog eyes. _She's almost better than I am!_

Sirius had to fight _awfully_ hard to not kiss her on the spot - but managed. "Well, I - er - " Sirius had no idea what to say. Should he say the truth? A lie? What?

Sirius settled for a small fib. It wasn't a lie - just not exactly the whole truth. Right in-between.

"They're pictures - but they're personal. You know, they're how I escape life in general."

Bella couldn't keep a smile from spreading wide across her face as they continued to walk around the lake. It was too much too find that Sirius - _the_ Sirius Black, king of attracting hearts of nearly every woman he meets - was not only a gentleman, but also an artist! "So," she asked cautiously, "are there any that I _can_ see?"

"Well, I guess. Why not?"

Bella squealed with excitement and sat down on the ground. Sirius, obviously seeing that she didn't want to continue to walk anymore, sat next to her as well.

"Well, there's this one. I was drawing it just before I ran into you." Sirius pulled out the picture of Hogwarts. "It's not that good."

Bella took the picture in her hands. And her mouth dropped. "Oh my god. Sirius! This is the best I have ever seen someone _my_ age draw! Isn't this sort-of like a dream or something for you? You have a talent that's better than every other person in our school! I can't believe this was just hand drawn! Are you sure this isn't a photograph?!?" she asked jokingly.

And for the first time in his life, Sirius blushed.

"Ya know, I could make it move if you wanted. Like a real wizard picture. It's an easy spell I found out in the library," he said, bashfully.

Bella turned to face Sirius, stunned. "You've been to the library?"

"Well, yeah. Once or twice before."

Bella tried to hide her surprise. "Well, yeah! Sure, I wanna see it move!" Eagerly, Bella stuffed the picture back into Sirius' hands. Even with the temperature outside, Sirius couldn't deny that the redness in his cheek was the harsh wind, but was caused from Bella brushing her hand on Sirius' when she gave the picture back.

"Ok, let's see." Sirius pulled out his wand and tapped his picture four times.

The snow that Sirius had added to the picture began to swirl across the page and wrap around the castle. "Wow," he heard Bella whisper near his ear.

The branches on the trees swayed along with the wind. Some cracked and fell off while the others ran into more branches remaining on the trees.

Bella didn't look away for nearly ten minutes. Sirius took this as a compliment.

When she did, however, it was with new respect for Sirius.

"D'ya want to see more?"

"Absolutely!" Bella exclaimed, jerking out of her trance.

Sirius pulled out the pile of pictures with him and his family or friends. He, however, didn't dare pull out the picture with Bella in them. She would be too suspicious.

They sat for another half-hour looking through Sirius' collection of pictures. The sun finally decided to set and Sirius knew this as a sign of dinner approaching. "C'mon," he said. "We should probably be getting inside. Don't want everyone wondering where we were."

"Yeah. I guess so."

They continued their journey back up to the castle. "Uh, Bella? Could you do me a favor and - er - not tell anyone about my pictures? They're sorta private, ya know?"

"Yeah absolutely! And, maybe you could not mention us together 'cause of Lily - "

"And James! They would just blow they're tops!"

"Exactly! They hate each other as it is and us - " Bella gestured at the two of them.

"Yep, know exactly what you mean! So, we're on a 'don't tell anyone' basis?"

"Yeah." They began to walk up the stairs. "Maybe I could look at the rest of your pictures some other time?" she asked, with hopefulness in her voice.

"Sure! I mean - alright, I guess."

They approached the main doors. "So, I'll see you some other time," Bella said.

"I'll - uh - send you a letter."

"Alright. See ya." Bella turned and left Sirius waiting out in the cold.

Listening inside, he checked to make sure her footsteps had died away before he slid down the door.

_I have just lived one of the best days of my life._

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

"See ya." Bella turned and pushed the large doors behind her open.

She walked down the main hallway. She heard the door close behind her. Bella turned, expecting to see Sirius following her. But, to her surprise, no one was there. She heard a soft sigh on the other side of the door. Ignoring any suspicions she had, Bella turned again and headed past the Great Hall.

A few students had begun to walk in to grab some food. James, Remus, and Peter, being some of the few who were the first as well as the last people left eating, had not arrived yet, surprisingly.

It took nearly fifteen minutes before all of the twisting and winding steps she took led her to Gryffindor tower.

"Fizzing whizbees," Bella said to the fat lady in her portrait.

The fat lady nodded her head and opened up the entryway and let Bella pass. She almost wished she hadn't.

"Jeese, Potter! What do you care? It's not your responsibility for what goes on in my life!" Bella didn't even stop to ask why Lily was back early. She decided that with Lily's attitude on Christmas evening, she should cool off herself and when she needed help, she could come to Bella when she needed to.

Walking past Lily and James, Bella crept up to her dorm unnoticed.

She took off her cloak and changed her cold and wet outfit. She brushed her wind-tossed hair out so that it lay down flat on her back. And then Bella did something that she hadn't done for nearly three years.

She took out her diary and wrote. She wrote her heart out all over the pages. Wrote of past and future experiences, mainly about her out with Sirius today.

_Sirius can be so strange at times. Normally around all of his friends, girlfriends, teachers, and the rest of the school's population, he asks like he's drunk! I swear. He just goofs off with other people like his silliness is a shield for his feelings. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. I may never know…_

_But something strange happened today. I took a walk outside. I had no one to talk to since all of my friends are home for the winter holidays._

_But then I found Sirius outside. He started talking to me. Then he asked if he could join me while I walk. And he so did._

_We had a nice talk. And a nice walk. But then I sneezed - and you know what he did? He gave me his cloak! What a gentleman!_

_Then I found some pictures in his cloak that he drew! They're marvelous! You would never guess that Sirius Black is an artist_ and _a gentleman! He drew this beautiful picture of Hogwarts. There was a blizzard outside with several trees near the castle. He also said that he went to the library - the_ library! _\- and found a spell that can make pictures move! He tapped the picture four times, I think, and the snow swirled around the castle in every direction! It was a beautiful picture and seemed so real! I've never seen anyone draw as good as Sirius._

_He showed me some more pictures but none stood out as much as the first. After he suggested we come in, he told me not to tell a soul about his pictures or about us spending time together. I happily agreed. Do you have any idea how angry Lily would be at me if she knew that I had been hanging out with Sirius Black, her enemy's best friend?!? She doesn't know him like I do, though. He's a sweet, kind, and caring person! All she sees in him is association with James Potter. I seriously think that they should get their act together soon and fall in love! It's not supposed to take this long for them to realize they're in love. It's killing me - and Sirius even agrees with me! He told me so._

_Really, that Sirius Black, he's not so bad._

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James looked at his clock on his side-table. It read 5:45.

"Dinner," he mumbled to the other two in the room with him. Peter and Remus looked up at James and then at the clock. Silently, they all stood up and walked toward the door.

There was a high-pitched squeak behind him and James turned to see that Peter had spilled all of his ink over his bed and his essays. "James," Remus said, "you head on down to dinner. Let me help Peter and we'll be down in a little bit. I suspect Sirius is already down there eating."

James gave them a smile and walked down the boys' staircase to the Gryffindor common room. And, there on the large couch, was Lily Evans. No one else was in the common room at the moment. So James decided to talk to Lily, for the first time, of his own free will.

"Evans," he muttered, nodding his head.

"Potter," Lily replied, giving him a smile. James raised his eyebrow.

"What's up, Evans? Why are you smiling?"

"Why, whatever do you mean?" she asked, innocently.

"Evans," he said, lowering his voice, "do you _not_ remember what happened earlier today?"

"Oh, no, I'm am perfectly aware of what happened earlier today. And I have decided that I shouldn't be sad."

James' jaw dropped. "What the hell are you talking about? Are we thinking of the same thing?"

"Yes, and ya know, James. I think you can be the first to know that I'm going to join the Quidditch team next year. You know, when we flew here this morning that was sort-of fun! I thought you may wanna know that since you'll probably be captain next year."

"Damn-it, Lily! What is wrong with you?!? _Your parents just died!_ You're lucky you weren't killed too!"

"And I don't want to be sad for the rest of my life. You know I'm getting hungry. Are you going downstairs to get some food?" Lily stood up and began to walk over towards the portrait.

But not before James caught her by the arm before she left. He held her inches from his face. "What is wrong with you Lily? When I left, you were crying earlier!" Then, on second thought, he added, "What did Madame Pomfrey give you?"

"Jeese, Potter! What do you care? It's not your responsibility for what goes on in my life!" Lily screamed, not noticing the portrait open and close. "Do you _want_ me to be sad? Or can I _please_ get on with my life now!" Lily ripped her arms from his grip and James took a step backwards, shocked.

"So you're just going to forget about your parents like that?" Lily didn't look at him. James now felt like he had the upper hand. She didn't move or say a word. "You know, Lily, I thought that you had more decency to be sad for your parents that just got murdered. Maybe I was wrong."

Lily finally turned and walked toward the portrait hole. James took one last stab at turning her back into her normal self.

"When my parents died I cried three days straight after that." Lily stopped. "I didn't talk to anyone for two weeks. Not even Sirius. I spoke to Dumbledore once the night of the - er - you know. But other than that, no one."

"You're lying," Lily whispered under her breath, not turning from her spot.

"I'm not," he whispered back. "Lily, you have to let your feelings out eventually. You can't keep them hidden inside of you forever." But before James had gotten the word 'forever' out of his mouth, Lily stepped out of the portrait hole.

James stood, still looking at the spot where Lily had been standing no more than three seconds ago.

"Trust me," he whispered into the air.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily stomped off down the hallway with her arms crossed over her chest. She didn't run into anyone and was very grateful.

After fifteen minutes of walking, Lily arrived at "her wall."

She remembered when she first found "her wall."

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

It was Lily's first year of school at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Nearing the third weekend of her stay, Lily had all of her homework completed earlier than everyone else with nothing to do. All of her friends were busy with one thing or another so she couldn't be with them. Lily finally decided it best to explore the castle in order for her to find classes easier. It was for her own good!

She walked down what seemed like every corridor. She opened and closed what seemed like every door! Behind each door lie one classroom after another. Nothing special.

Until she got bored after an hours worth of walking and was about to quit. She began to drag her fingers along the wall behind her. It was an old and annoying habit she'd had since forever and could never shake off when she was bored.

But then her hand moved across a different type of substance. It was smoother than the rest of the wall. Like it had been worn down.

She looked at the wall and there, by her hand, was a black streak left behind from where her fingers had been.

_Odd._

Lily stopped and lifted her hand. After nearly ten seconds, the mark was erased.

Curious, Lily placed her forefinger there again. There was a black dot on the wall now. And then it erased.

Lily took her finger and wrote out _Lily_ on the wall.

And, to her amazement, it did not erase this time. It just added a word before it.

**_Hello Lily._ **

Lily jumped away from the wall. She watched the two words with cat like eyes. The words erased.

**_Lily is your name, is it not?_ **

Scared, Lily nodded at the wall and waited for a reply.

**_Hello?_ **

"Oh!" Lily placed her finger to the wall and wrote. _Yes. My name is Lily._

**_How did you find me?_ **

_I -_ Lily didn't know what to say. Should she trust this - this _wall_? If you thought about this in a logical, non-magical sort-of way, you would think Lily was crazy if she'd said she was talking to a _wall_.

Lily decided to ask the wall a question.

_Who are you?_

**_I, my dear, am none other than Helen._ **

_Why are you a wall?_

**_No, no, dear, you must answer my question first._ **

_Well, I was exploring the castle and I touched this wall and it made it mark._

**_Yes, that would be simple enough. Now I must answer your question. What was it again dear?_ **

_My question was why are you a wall? Why are you not a living, breathing, human being?_ Lily waited for the wall to respond to her question. She had begun to write faster and her writing was now becoming nearly illegible.

**_Well, Helga Hufflepuff herself charmed this very wall to talk to people by writing. She named me Helen and used me as a person she could talk to whenever she was troubled. She was murdered, however, and never took this charm off my wall._ **

_Oh,_ was all Lily could respond. She hadn't expected this to happen! She was only thinking she would be out for a quick stroll and be back in her common room within fifteen minutes! Oh, how wrong she was! ** _So, would you like to come into her room?_**

Lily's jaw dropped. _Her room?_

**_Why, yes. It's where she slept as well._ **

_I guess. How do I get in?_

**_Just ask me to let you in! You're a funny girl._ **

_Can I come in?_ Lily asked lamely.

**_Sure!_ **

Lily stood and waited for a little while until the wall wrote again.

**_What are you waiting for?_ **

Confused, Lily wrote back. _What are you talking about?_

**_Open the door!_ **

Lily raised her eyebrow at the wall. ** _I can still see you._**

_Oh, sorry. But what door?_

**_Do you not see the handle little Lily?_ **

Lily looked at the wall and finally found a small, dark Barbie sized handle, but there wasn't anything else but that handle. No door frame!

Lily crouched down on the ground and turned the knob. She didn't expect anything to happen. However, much to her surprise, once she turned the handle, there was a large, empty space big enough for her to walk through.

"Wow." Lily stood in shock, as she looked onward at the room that greeted her.

There was a long couch, big enough for four people, and an armchair next to it, big enough for two people. In front of the armchair and couch was a long, glass coffee table. In the corner was a tall, four-legged table and four chairs surrounding it. At the back of the room was a four-poster bed just like Lily's in her dormitory. The only difference was that it had yellow-gold sheets instead of scarlet. The carpet was a dark yellow, but not quite gold, while the chairs were a deep black, almost navy blue.

Lily entered the room cautiously, almost expecting something thousands of years old to jump out at her.

She felt the fabric of the couch and floor, making sure this was for real and not another one of her silly fantasies.

Lily turned around and saw that the doorway had been sealed and, again, there was writing on the wall.

**_How do you like it?_ **

Lily swore that if walls had faces, this one would look nervous about now.

Lily walked to the wall. _I love it._

Lily looked around the room once again before she wrote to the wall. _How do I get back out? Another door like last?_

**_Not really. You push a button now._ **

Lily looked around the wall again. Only, this time, it was a lot easier to find. A large red button sat near her fingertips and she pressed it. The doorway opened again and she walked into the hallway.

**_You will come back, won't you?_ **

_Of course! But, right now, I need to get to dinner._

**_All right. Good-bye, Little Lily._ **

And from then on, her name to the wall was "Little Lily."

/////////////////////////End of Flashback///////////////////////

_Hello, Helen._ Lily wrote.

**_Good day, Little Lily. Where have you been? I've missed you with no company for nearly two months!_ **

_I'm sorry, Helen. I've been a little caught up in some things. Can I come in?_

Helen didn't reply, but Lily did see that small doorknob near the floor. She turned it and walked into the room.

Since the first time she had been here, she learned spells to redecorate and changed colors. The chair and couch was now a dark emerald green that blended in with her eyes. The bed against the wall was in the same spot but was now emerald green as well. Even the pillows were a shade of green. Could you tell Lily's favorite color was green?

The carpet was a dark navy blue and the walls were white. The walls, however, had a blue/green tinge to it from the colors surrounding it.

Lily flopped down into the armchair. She, however, noticed the wall was writing. ** _What is wrong, Little Lily?_**

Lily dragged her chair over towards the wall and sat while writing.

_It's been tough these past weeks._

**_Boy trouble?_** the wall asked, motherly.

Lily shrugged to herself. _You could say that. Well, do you remember me telling you about James Potter?_

**_That mean and awful boy?_ **

Lily smiled. She now knew why she loved this wall so much. _Yes. Well, he's been playing these horrid tricks on me day after day which made me behind in my studies. That's the first reason why I couldn't come see you last month._

**_All right, now I understand._ **

_The second reason -_ Lily stopped writing. Should she really tell her?

**_What is it dear?_ **

_Helen, have you talked to anyone else recently?_

**_Well, there is this one person that comes every now and then, now that you say it, but nothing much. Doesn't even say hello to me either._ **

_When's the last time you saw them?_

**_Not for awhile now. I don't think they're coming back._ **

_Well, if they ever do come back, don't tell them what I'm about to tell you. Promise?_

**_Honey, I would never tell a soul._ **

Reluctantly, Lily replied. _Ok. Before I left for winter break, I got revenge on James Potter - and it was about time too!_

**_You shouldn't have, Little Lily._ **

_But he deserved it! You couldn't believe how mean he was being to me! Planting Dung-bombs underneath my bed every single morning; putting Filibuster Fireworks in my bag every day so that my homework would catch fire until I learned to move my homework! But still, he would just find my homework one way or another! And, last but certainly not least, he would cast spells on me so that I would embarrass myself in front of the whole school!_ Lily finally began to cry.

**_No, dear! You don't need to cry! They were just tricks that you could go to any professor about!_ **

_Yes, I know, except that he would just call me a tattletale whenever I ran to a professor. I even tried tricks back but none would affect him as much as it did to me. So, finally, I stole his most prized possession._

**_Lily! I'm shocked! You have stooped so low to stealing just so that you could make that boy angry._ **

_Well, yes, but it was his broom._

**_Ah, that explains it. Don't know why people like that sport anyway!_ **

_I know! It's so stupid how people fly around and just try not to get knocked off of their broom! You get hurt so easily!_

**_So you were, in a roundabout way, doing him a favor?_ **

_I guess you could say that, but I would never EVER admit that to him!_

**_Dear, we're getting off track._ **

_Oh yes. Well, I took his broom home with me for winter break. I was planning on keeping it until he promised not to prank me anymore. Well, it ended up that I got back and sorta told my horrible sister that I was dating a guy, even though I wasn't. She asked who and I panicked - so I said the first name that came into my head. James Potter._

**_Oh, Lily!_** The walls surrounding her began to echo as if laughter was bouncing off of it. Lily couldn't believe Helen!

_I'm not telling you anymore if you laugh like this._

**_Ok, I won't laugh. You may continue._ **

_Well, somehow, he found out and took his best friends' broom to get it! Can you believe that he flew to my house just to get his pathetic broom!_

**_He really needs another hobby._ **

_Well, he does have another hobby. He snags innocent girls in his trap and dates them for no longer than a week. Then he disposes of them when he's tired and wants another girl to snog!_

**_Anyway…_ **

_Anyway, he came to my house just when we were eating. My stupid sister recognized him and told my parents immediately! They were so happy that their "little baby found a boyfriend." I couldn't say that I hated his guts and wished he weren't alive!_

**_Now, you don't really mean that…_ **

_Oh but I do!_ Tears sprang to Lily's eyes, but she continued to write. _I couldn't admit to my sister that I didn't really have a boyfriend!_

Lily took a deep breath and swallowed the lump in her throat. _Well, I bargained with him and said I'd give back the broom if he would stop playing pranks on me and play along, pretending he really was my boyfriend. He wanted his broom back so bad that he agreed!_

**_Men._ **

_I completely agree! I don't know why we're forced to live with them! It's like they're a completely different species!_

**_Little Lily, hop back on the wagon. We're getting off track again!_ **

_You're right. Anyway, it was a really long night. But then you'll never guess what he did before he left!_

**_What?_ **

Lily could see the eagerness in her writing.

_He KISSED me!_

**_No!_ **

_Yes!_

**_Why?_ **

_Because my parents were watching! I mean, why not on the cheek? Why does he have to torture me so much?_

**_Maybe he likes you!_ **

Lily looked shocked at the words Helen wrote.

_You've got to be kidding me._

**_No, I'm serious!_ **

_Helen! I'm shocked! How could you think like that at a time like this?_

**_What? It was just a kiss, though._ **

_No, Helen! It wasn't just any kiss._

**_Oh, so was it special or something to you?_** Lily could hear soft sounds of laughter bouncing off the walls.

_No! Helen, you can't tell anyone else this either._

**_What?_ **

_That was my first kiss._

**_Oh, it was? Lily, I'm so sorry! I didn't know!_ **

_Well, I never told anyone either._

Nothing was written for a few minutes. They let each other sort out their thoughts before Lily continued.

_So then he left but forgot his friends broom and STUPIDLY came back on Christmas Eve. It was nearly midnight already, though, so my parents invited him to stay overnight. And my MUM! I could not believe her. She had him sleep on the floor near my bed! I felt like I would die. So then, of course, we had Christmas together. James and I left because of some stupid excuse he had about Voldemort going after Gryffindor's -_

**_Oh, I've heard you talk about him before! He's that man -_ **

_Hardly a man! He's a murderer! He kills innocent people's parents! He had no reason at all! Why did he kill them?_ And for the third time in the last hour - Lily cried.

**_Lily, what happened? There is obviously something you didn't tell me._ **

Angered, Lily sat up from her chair and began to write furiously at the wall. She even broke a nail while she was at it but paid no attention.

_He killed them, Helen! Voldemort MURDERED my parents, but left my sister behind to torture me! Now do you understand what I'm going through?!? I can't stand the pressure anymore!_

**_Little Lily, relax._ **

_How can I relax when I won't even be able to sleep anymore?!? All I see whenever I close my eyes is my mother sprawled on the floor - my dad on the couch!_

**_Dear, stop using exclamation marks! You're hurting my ears!_ **

_You don't have ears! You're just a wall! You don't have feelings! You're not even ALIVE!!!_

Nothing happened. Lily sobbed for another hour without any response whatsoever from the _stupid_ wall. When she had wiped her tears, she stood up and moved the armchair to where it had stood before, and bravely walked back to the wall.

_Let me out._

There still came no reply, only a red button that jutted out of the wall. Lily punched the button down and walked swiftly out of the room without a second look back. 

**Author's Note: That's it! I'll try to put up the next chapter later this week - it's called The Funeral. (Pretty explanatory, but hopefully I threw in some unexpected surprises you might not have been expecting!)**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	8. The Funeral

**Author's Note: This is the chapter that inspired me to write the short story Funeral For a Friend. Not exactly the most uplifting chapter, but I really like it.**

**Enjoy!**

**Chapter Eight: The Funeral**

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

It was almost seven o’clock on Sunday morning and Bella’s beauty sleep was rudely interrupted by a tapping noise.

Angrily, she opened the drapes with such force that she, herself, had not known, and stomped over to the door. With her hair in every which way, Bella flung the door open. Not only did the doorknob hit the wall behind it leaving a mark, but there was also no one standing behind the door in the first place!

As you could tell, Bella was _not_ a morning person.

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

Bella whipped her head around. Both Lily and Breanna were beginning to stir and wake up to the racket Bella was making. They sat up in bed, not paying much attention to Bella as she threw open the window and an owl flew inside.

She grabbed its foot and held it upside down. He fluttered his wings awkwardly but it was in vain. Once his squawking and fruitless attempts at escaping began to subside, Bella loosened the grip she had on his feet.

“Arabella Figg! How dare you torture that poor, defenseless animal? It did nothing to hurt _you_ , did it?”

“Look, Breanna, right now I don’t exactly have the patience to listen to another one of your ‘cruelty to animals’ speech. I just want to get back to bed!” Breanna sat, unmoving, in her bed. She was obviously not satisfied with her answer. “Look, I’ll just take the letter and - ” Bella untied the letter from the owl’s small foot and threw him outside once again where it fell towards the ground. However, after the owl realized that he was falling, he spread out his wings and soared back into the horizon. “There, he’s gone.”

Breanna rolled her eyes and got out of bed. “Hey, Lily, can you take me down to the Prefect bathroom? You’re the only one who knows the password. Plus, no one’s _ever_ taking a shower at this time in the morning on Sunday!” Breanna gave Lily her best puppy dog eyes she could muster.

It was now Bella’s turn to roll her eyes. Breanna practically needed everything that she did first class. Showering, eating, sleeping, you name it!

Breanna had also been trying to find out why Lily was back from winter break earlier than planned and was, so far, unsuccessful. Lily would avoid the subject as much as she could and once Lily had decided to do something, she was as stubborn as a mule and didn’t budge.

Bella turned her attention to the letter in her land. It was addressed to her. She ripped open the envelope and smiled. It was from Sirius.

_Bella,_

_Hello. I’m not a very big writer, so you’ll have to excuse this. (Usually my letters only consist of “yes,” “no,” or “maybe.”)_

Bella laughed.

_Well, I just thought that since we’re friends now, I bought you a Christmas present. I also know that tomorrow’s your birthday._

Bella’s jaw dropped. How on earth did he know that tomorrow was her birthday? She _hated_ being the center of attention – and that’s why _only_ her friends, close family members, and herself knew of her birthday.

_One of my presents is enclosed in this letter. Tap your wand at the top twice. And meet me in the common room at midnight tonight as well. Hoping to see you soon._

_Sirius_

Bella sighed and melted into the comfort of her bed. She picked up her wand and, just like Sirius had instructed her to, she tapped her wand to the paper twice.

Immediately, the letter written to Bella was erased and in the place was a picture of Sirius and Bella sitting together on a couch.

_Amazing…_

She sat and stared at the picture, analyzing every detail.

Lily walked back into the room, more alert now. Bella frantically threw the drawing underneath her pillow and lay down on top of it.

“So, Lils, what’s going on with you? How’s the family? I suggest the parents are doing fine. Petunia not being too bothersome, is she? Yes, yes, how’s school goin’?” Bella said all this quickly, earning a curious look from Lily.

“Well, they’re all doing fine, I guess. How about you’re family? Anything new with them?”

“Lily, I didn’t go home this winter, remember? I stayed here.”

“Oh, right. Yeah, course I knew that!” Lily blushed a shade of magenta. “Well, I best be getting back to sleep. Wake me in a few hours if I’m not up already, ok?”

“Ok.”

Checking to make sure Lily had already fallen asleep again, Bella pulled back out the picture of her and Sirius. As Lily’s heavy breathing filled the room, Bella sighed and began memorizing the picture front to back.

_How does he do this to me?_ Bella thought just before she fell asleep with the drawing clutched to her chest.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily woke up at a quarter ‘til eleven. She dressed, grumpily, and cursed Bella for not waking her up a few hours ago like she was supposed to.

Lily stomped down into the deserted common room and plopped into a large red armchair.

The portrait into Gryffindor Tower swung open and closed admitting the tall Head Boy into the room.

“Excuse me,” he asked impatiently, “is your name Lily Evans?”

“Yes…”

“Dumbledore told me to ask if you could join him in his office. If you don’t mind, I’ll tell you the password into his office and I’ll best be off to do _better_ things with my time. The password is Pumpkin Pastry.”

“Thanks.” Lily walked out of the portrait and headed down the hallways the opposite way the Head Boy was walking.

She walked towards a Gargoyle that was on the other side of the castle. “Pumpkin Pastry,” she said, and the large gargoyle sprang to life and jumped aside, letting Lily proceed inside. She stepped onto a long, moving staircase that was spiraling towards the top.

The stairs stopped moving the moment Lily was standing outside of a large, wooden door. Cautiously, Lily raised her hand and knocked three times.

“Please come in, Miss Evans,” came the familiar voice of the headmaster, Professor Dumbledore.

Reaching out to the brass handle, Lily turned the knob and entered, gazing at the sight before her. There in the center of the large oval room was a wooden desk. The headmaster sat behind the desk, waiting for Lily to walk inside.

Nervous, Lily shut the door behind her and sat across from Dumbledore. “Er, you called?”

“I did, indeed. Now, yesterday you came in and told me about your parents’ deaths.” Lily tensed up. She still felt sensitive about the subject. “I was just curious as to if there was going to be a funeral for them.”

Lily shrugged. “If there is then it’ll most likely be in a few days.”

“Of course,” Dumbledore said. “Well, classes start again in a little over a week and you have my permission to go back home until then.”

Lily nodded her head. “Well, I would want to go back for the funeral, but I guarantee you that I _won’t_ need to stay for even a week.”

Dumbledore gave a small smile. “Very well, then. You can pack your things for however long you’re going to be gone. You can leave after dinner today. I’ll have the Hogwarts train come and take you to Platform nine and three quarters. Do you need to call your sister or anyone to get a ride home from there?”

Lily gave a small wry smile. “I think I’ll manage.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James finished his small lunch and headed back to the Gryffindor Common Room unaccompanied. Peter and Remus were still stuffing their faces with food while Sirius was nowhere to be found.

James had barely had any lunch to start with. He took a small sandwich and a few sips of Pumpkin juice, but other than that, James didn’t eat anything else.

He didn’t know why he wasn’t hungry. Maybe it was from the death of two good people he had met only a few days ago. Even if James didn’t really like Lily, he still liked her parents.

Walking to a stop in front of the fat lady, James said the password and entered.

He sat down on one of the couches and closed his eyes.

_What a week…_

He was just beginning to fall asleep also when the portrait had been slammed back open, and James’ “nap time” was rudely interrupted by a loud voice.

“James! Wake up!”

“Yeah,” he muttered, groggily.

“I need to borrow your broom.”

James opened his eyes. Lily was leaning down in front of his face. “Please? I need it for my parents’ funeral.”

James softened. “When is it? When are you leaving?”

“I’m going in a little less than an hour. So, can I borrow your broom?”

James shook his head, giving up, and ran to his dormitory. He dropped on his hands and knees to search for Sirius’ broom. Reaching under the bed, James pulled out Sirius’ Cleansweep and brought it downstairs to Lily.

“Here,” he said. “It’s Sirius’, though. He deserves a little payback.”

“Thanks,” Lily muttered, and yanked the broom from his grasp. She ran back up into her own dormitory and finished packing her things, hiding the broom in her trunk like she had done only a few days before.

Running down the steps, Lily pulled her trunk out to the horseless carriage waiting for her. She threw her stuff inside and waited until it brought her to the platform where the Hogwarts Express would leave. Little did she know that someone was watching her as well.

James, looking out of his dormitory window, watched Lily climb into the carriage. And then as if he had decided on something, James grabbed his broom and cloak once again.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

_It has to be perfect… Not extremely expensive… Nothing too cheap…_

Sirius had sneaked out of the castle today to find Bella a birthday present. He just _had_ to buy Bella the best gift she’d ever gotten in her life. His gift had to be her _favorite._

Sirius had gone through nearly every shop there was in Hogsmeade and had found nothing that was _right_.

Nearly giving up, Sirius was walking down the snowy street, looking inside each window.

_No. No. No. Hmm… No. No. No. Wait –_

Sirius stopped just before an elderly women causing her to crash into him. “Whoops, sorry, ma’am,” Sirius muttered hurried and ran to the window.

“Watch where you’re going!” the women called, grumpily, from her spot on the ground.

“Sorry, won’t happen again!” Sirius placed his face against the frozen glass, and gazed in at the now fogged up display.

_Perfect…_

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

_Mary had a little lamb, little lamb, little lamb, Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow…_

Lily looked around the empty compartment. She was _very_ bored right now. You could only read for so many hours; even if it was your favorite book!

Lily had tried to play a little bit of Gobstones and Exploding Snaps, but it was pretty hard to play when you didn’t have anyone to play _against_.

Lily leaned back in her chair and sighed. What to do? She searched her trunk for some forgotten homework; there was none.

Annoyed, Lily stretched back on the chair she was sitting in and curled up. She tried to fall asleep for at least an hour, however the train rocking back and forth wasn’t as effective as a rocking cradle you would fall asleep in as a baby.

Unsatisfied, Lily sat up and stared blankly at the wall, singing another song.

“Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, ninety-nine bottles of beer…”

<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>Petunia<><><><><><><><><><><><><><>

“Vernon,” Petunia cooed. “You’re coming to my parents’ funeral, right?”

Vernon Dursley, a large and short-necked man, nodded his head gruffly. Annoyed at the interruption, he adjusted his morning paper and continued reading.

“Vernon, why aren’t you listening to me?” Petunia complained with a whiny voice.

“I am, darling. I just found a good article here…”

Petunia rolled her eyes as she read the title of the article Vernon was reading. “‘Top Ten Favorite Fruits of the Year,’?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. Although I think the list is just ridiculous. After all, I think that apples should be number one – _not_ oranges.”

“Vernon, put the paper down. I can’t believe you’re ignoring me!”

“Petunia,” he muttered, folding the paper up underneath his arms, “I’m listening to _every_ word you’re saying.”

She scowled but continued talking anyway. “Vernon, I’m worried…”

“About what, dear?” he asked, sneaking a peak at the newspaper without Petunia seeing.

“Lily. You don’t think she’ll come home for my parents’ funerals, do you? I mean, she probably feels really guilty about what _she_ did and everything.”

“What?” Vernon asked, confused. “What did she do?”

“Oh, yeah… Well, there’s a little something about my sister you don’t know. She’s sort-of a witch.”

“Of course, Petunia.”

“No, Vernon, I mean a _real_ witch! One that casts _spells_ and makes _potions_! She doesn’t really go to a private school somewhere in the middle of nowhere, she goes to a _freak_ school!”

Vernon’s scrunched up his face. “Petunia, what on _earth_ are you talking about?”

“Vernon Dursley! Why do you not believe me? You have to trust me! She has bad blood in her veins, wizard blood, and it’s all _her_ fault that my parents were killed!” Petunia finally broke down and began to sob uncontrollably in one of the chairs in the Dursley’s kitchen. “Those other _freaks_ came to the house and killed mum and dad!”

Vernon got down on the floor and hugged Petunia who sobbed into his shoulder. “I’m sure she didn’t mean to. It wasn’t her fault.”

“Yes it was!” Petunia shrieked.

“Alright, alright. Just calm down. I’ll make sure you never have to bother with her ever again, then, if this is how you feel about her.”

“Really?” Petunia asked with her eyes still filled with tears. “You mean that?”

“Absolutely.”

Satisfied, Petunia gave Vernon a small kiss on the cheek and ran back home with a hurried good-bye.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella kept glancing at the clock in anticipation.

Ten minutes until midnight.

Five minutes until midnight.

Three minutes until midnight,

One minute until midnight.

The clock in the Common Room let out a small bell chime as the minute hand reached the top of the clock.

Bella looked at the boys’ staircase expectantly. And then she heard the familiar creak of steps.

There was Sirius, creeping down the stairs as quietly as he could. Once he and Bella made eye contact, he allowed a grin.

“Hey,” Bella mumbled, shyly.

“Er, hello.” Sirius had reached the bottom of the stairs and now both were standing in front of each other.

“Um, you wanted to meet me here?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said as he blushed furiously. “Happy Birthday, Bella.”

“I’m just curious, Sirius. How did you know that it was birthday tomorrow - ” Bella stopped herself and glanced at the clock. She chuckled. “Actually, how did you know that _today_ was my birthday?”

Sirius shrugged. “I guess I’m just a good observer. You know, Lily and Breanna are always acting especially nice to you on this day, I guess.”

Bella looked thoughtful. “You _are_ a good observer,” she pointed out, laughing.

Sirius chuckled along with Bella. He looked uncomfortable standing in front of Bella. He seemed to be at a loss of words.

“So… Why’d you bring me here?”

“I, uh, wanted to give you your birthday present.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “I thought that the picture you sent was your present?”

Sirius smiled. “That was your _Christmas_ present. This is your birthday present,” he said as he pulled out a velvet case and opened it for Bella to see.

Bella took a step away from Sirius, shocked.

“I hope you like it,” he said, shyly. And out of the box he pulled out a small diamond attached to a silver chain.

“Like it?” Bella asked in shock. “I – I – I _love_ it!”

Sirius’ eyes glowed with happiness. Carefully, he wrapped the chain loosely around Bella’s neck and clasped it shut.

She brought her hand to the diamond in the middle. It was plain and simple, but it was just right.

“Thank you _so_ much!” Bella said as she threw her arms around his neck and gave him a hug. “It’s perfect, Sirius.”

And with much pride, Sirius’ grin spread from cheek to cheek.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily climbed off of the train and onto the empty platform. She had changed into her funeral clothes on the train. She had thought that if there would be a funeral, it would be sometime that day. Even if it was four AM, already, she was prepared for whatever may come.

Unlike any other time she would have been standing here, there was no hustle or bustle from other students wanting to get home or wanting to get on the train. The platform was empty.

The barrier to get through to the other side was open. Lily ran straight through the magic wall and had to stop herself before she collided with any muggles on the other side.

Looking around automatically, Lily searched for the faces that belonged to her parents, but she knew that they wouldn’t be found.

Quietly, so as not to bring any unwanted attention to herself, Lily walked out of the train station and around to the side where no one could see her. She opened the lid of her trunk and pulled out Sirius’ broom. Lily put invisibility and tracking spells on her trunk. And silently, she climbed onto the broom and flew off with the weightless trunk following closely behind her.

It was nearly six in the morning before she arrived home. Lily raised her hand and knocked on the door of her own house twice.

And to her amazement, the lights turned on.

The door creaked open and a small eye peaked around the corner. “Lily!” the person shrieked. “What are you doing here?”

“Petunia, what are you talking about? Of course I’d be here! Why would I miss Mum and Dad’s funerals?”

Petunia opened the door a little farther. “I thought that you would feel guilty about their deaths. You know how it was all your fault.”

“What?” Lily asked, shocked. “I didn’t kill them!”

“But it _was_ that freak wizard Voldemort, though, wasn’t it? One of _your_ kind isn’t he?!?” Petunia was beginning to grow hysteric from the pain that was ripping her up from inside.

“Petunia, relax! Voldemort’s just a wizard gone bad!”

“Yes, but he’s one of _your_ kind still!”

“Petunia, listen to - ”

“No!” she shrieked. “Go away! I don’t want to see your ugly face _ever_ again!” Petunia was beginning to cry. And then with as much strength as she could muster, Petunia slammed the door in Lily’s face.

Lily stood on her doorstep, shocked. She began to ponder what Petunia had just said. _Is it really my fault? I didn’t kill my parents – did I?_

“Petunia, who was that at the door?” a voice came from inside. Lily recognized it as one of their friends’ voice.

“Oh, I just heard this noise outside – turns out it was a rat.”

“Eew! I _hate_ rats!” came a younger version of the voice.

“Yes,” Petunia agreed. “Ok, now, Sylvia, you need to get in bed. Sharon, after I put your little sister to sleep again, I’m going to head off to sleep as well. Wake me up around eight, ok?”

“Alright,” Sharon agreed. Sylvia and Sharon were some family friends of the Evans’ family. Their parents must be under the control of the house until Petunia and Lily grew old enough to have it themselves.

_It’s only a little longer until dawn,_ Lily thought miserably to herself. _I’ll just wander around for a bit…_

She tucked her trunk underneath the bushes and climbed onto Sirius’ broom again. She flew up onto the top of their house and sat down on the peak. She waited for the sun to rise. It would have seemed like a long wait to anyone else, but Lily had enough things to think about on her mind already.

Like if she really _had_ murdered her parents or not.

*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*Time Change*~^~*~^~*~^~*~^~*

Lily felt that she had sat on the roof for only five minutes when she realized it was a quarter til nine.

_Shit!_

Lily climbed onto Sirius’ broom and flew off of the house and into her own bedroom window. The funeral was in fifteen minutes. Hurriedly wiping her eyes from any sign of tear stains, Lily rushed around doing some last minute things.

She opened a drawer in her bedroom and began to brush out all of the knots in her hair. Considering she had been flying for a few hours earlier, her windswept hair took awhile to get every knot out and for her hair to lay down flat on her back.

She raced around her room trying to put her things away as well as trying to put up her hair all at once. It didn’t work out so well, so Lily left her hair down and stuffed her things underneath the bed.

And, like before, Lily hopped on Sirius’ broom and flew off to the gathering place where everyone met before the actual burial.

Nearly crashing to the ground behind the meeting place, Lily hid her broom in a bush and walked into the main room with two minutes left to spare. There were a few doors leading off to different areas where other “funeral parties” were meeting.

“Lily!”

Lily spun around at the sound of her name. It was Sharon and Sylvia with their parents behind them. They had just walked in through the main doors. The small eight-year-old ran into Lily’s knees and nearly knocked her off of her feet.

“I missed you, Lily!”

Lily gave her a small smile and patted her on the back, now regaining the use of her legs. “I missed you too, Sylvia. Hello, Sharon. How are you?”

“Oh, dear!” Their mother, Deborah Anderson, seemed to go running for Lily once she saw her familiar red hair. “Lily, how are you holding up? Is there anything we can do for you?”

The thin girl seemed to be having trouble holding up the lady’s weight after she had thrown herself on Lily in a huge hug. “I’m fine, Deborah. How are you, Joe?” Lily asked over the lady’s shoulder as Deborah’s husband, Joe Anderson, came into view.

“I’m good, Lily. Come now, Deborah, let’s go inside. Let the girl breathe.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.” The mother pulled herself off of Lily and walked into the the empty room.

Lily, waiting to walk inside, scanned the room for people she knew and saw several family friends and people her father had worked with. She, of course, did not have any cousins, only an aunt who wasn’t even married. She was her father’s sister, but they also had about ten years age difference between them and hardly ever talked. Therefore Lily did not know her aunt either. Lily would still never know why Aunt Rose even bothered to come to the funeral. She hadn’t seen or heard from Aunt Rose since Lily was seven.

It was a fairly small crowd. It was hard to recognize most people since she usually only saw them suring the summer.

“Lily!”

And for the second time, Lily spun, but this time she noticed Petunia along with her boyfriend, Vernon, standing by the main doors.

“What are you doing here?!?” she hissed, venomously.

“I,” Lily started, “am here for the funeral. You would think I’d be allowed to come considering I’m their daughter, wouldn’t you?” Lily said, smugly.

Petunia seemed to be at a loss for words. And finally, she pulled on her boyfriend’s coat sleeve and dragged him into one of the doors. However, Lily could have sworn she heard a faint, “I thought you said I wouldn’t have to deal with her anymore, Vernon,” before they left.

And with a silent victory, Lily thought, _one to zip, my lead._

Checking to make sure Vernon and Petunia were busy talking to other people inside, Lily slipped in. She walked to the other end of the room where there were two open caskets.

The silence was ringing in her ears. She could hear people talking, but their words didn’t seem to be going through Lily’s ears.

Her parents’ hands were crossed over their stomach. Lily could see that make up had been placed on their faces to give them color, but she could still see the white emptiness on their hands.

Lily stood there, watching over her parents. She studied every part of their faces, tears welling up behind her eyes. Lily knew it was too much, but she kept imagining this all being a dream. Her parents’ chests would start rising and falling in that steady pattern after you fall asleep and everything would be ok.

But they didn’t move. Lily swallowed a large lump in her throat, holding in the tears.

_Oh, Mother, why did you have to leave so early? I still need you! And, Dad, I could really do with some of your infamous jokes to lighten the mood right now. Don’t leave me here all alone!_

And then a voice came floating into the back of her mind. It was her mother’s.

_"Lily,"_ her mother had told her, _"I will always be worried about you. Always. But I also know that James is the right one. He is your light through the night, your beloved, your one and only; just like your father and I. As long as you are with him, my worries nearly leave me completely. He's yours, Lily. Keep him. Love him while you can. God knows what's going on in the world these days, honey, even your world! Stay with the light and he will bring you home."_

Lily covered her face in her hands, though she didn’t cry. _I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to lie to you!_ Lily thought, miserably. _He’s not my light, Mother! I’m lonely! I have no one here! You can’t leave me all alone! I’m not ready yet._

Lily sat down onto one of the chairs, weakly. It was several minutes later until she felt she was ready to face the world again.

Lily saw friends from out of town and began chatting with them. Every now and then, someone would come up behind her and give her a hug with tears in their own eyes. “Oh, Lily, I’m so sorry,” they would say. “I wish I could help you.”

Not only did they have the gull to come up and say they could fix things, which they couldn’t, but they also denied any thought of helping her before Lily said she was fine. What if she _wasn’t_ fine? Would they still continue to say they couldn’t help when Lily knew of something they _could_ help with?

Lily didn’t think she could stand this anymore, so taking out the anger on someone else seemed the most logical answer at the time. She decided to snap at the next person who came along.

And finally she had her moment.

There came a tap on her right shoulder. Irritated, Lily spun and practically glared at the person behind her.

But it wasn’t who she was expecting.

“James?!? What the hell are you doing here?!?” Lily asked, lowering her voice.

James, with his hair sticking out on every side of his head and glasses on the bridge of his nose, gave Lily a sympathetic smile. “I wanted to come to your parents’ funeral too. They were good friends to me.”

Lily glared at James who hardly flinched. “You barely knew them for over a day.”

“But I was still friends with them.”

Lily couldn’t believe how uncaring he could be. Here Lily was, without any parents, and James was saying he wanted to come because he was friends with them. How was that a good reason?

“Out,” Lily hissed, glaring at James.

“I’m staying.”

“No you’re - ”

“Lily!” a voice shrieked.

Behind her, Petunia was stomping over to where James and Lily were standing, Vernon right at her heels.

“Lily, what on earth is _he_ doing here?”

Lily couldn’t stand her sister acting like this. Not on the day of her parents’ funeral.

“Petunia, it’s none of your business,” Lily said, controlling her anger as best as she could.

“It’s close friends only, Lily.”

“So I’m guessing that _he_ \- ” Lily pointed at Vernon – “is one of my close friends? I think not.”

Vernon let out a quiet, “Humph,” and stuck his nose in the air.

“James stays.”

Petunia glared at Lily, realizing that this was the second battle that day she had lost. She stomped away with Vernon behind her and began to grumpily talk to another family.

_Two zero, still my lead._

Lily turned on her feet and looked James straight in the face. “You can stay – but only because I had to make a stupid point to my sister! That’s it. And then when the funeral’s over, you’re gone. Is that clear?”

James gave her a small smile. “Crystal.”

“Good.” Lily sat down on the bench she had sat on earlier.

Once everyone seemed to be gathered, a man in a suit and tie walked to the front of the room. “It’s time to go.”

Lily, James, and everyone else in the room stood to leave. They entered the room behind it and each sat in a pew in the small church. A priest walked in and everyone said a few prayers for Lily’s parents. A few people stood and talked about what they loved about Will and Christine Evans and what they would miss.

Lily didn’t give a talk about her parents. She didn’t cry, nor did she let out any sign of weakness.

James, sitting next to her, was shocked at Lily’s behavior. She couldn’t be a rock and hide her feelings all of the time. _She’s as human, as much as he’d hate to admit it, as anybody else here._

They all filed out of the church at the end of the service and left to go to the graveyard. This was what Lily had been dreading the most; the actual burial; the closing of their caskets; the ceasing of their existence above ground.

Lily sneaked around to the back of the building and found Sirius’ broom. But she also found another alongside it – James’ broom.

“Here, Lily, can you hand my broom to me?” James asked from behind her.

Lily stood up and walked right past him, shoving his shoulder as she passed. She knew she was acting childish, she knew this would get her nowhere, but she did it anyway.

Climbing onto the broom, she flew in the direction of the graveyard, aware of James flying at a distance behind her. _Good thing, too._

Normally the drive would have taken ten minutes, but it was about five minutes away when you got to fly up high in the clouds.

Lily landed her broom behind another bush and waited until she could see the familiar line of cars pull into the cemetery.

James landed with a small thud behind Lily and crashed into the ground.

“That probably wasn’t one of your more graceful landings, was it?” Lily asked, smartly.

Sprawled on the ground, James gave her a sarcastic smile and let out a mumbled, “No.”

Lily walked away, leaving James to catch up after her. They headed towards a green tent. Two of the sides were open for people to walk into while the others were closed off to block the fierce wind. Several of the families were already milled around the two caskets. Lily managed to squeeze in front of Mr. and Mrs. Anderson. She tried hiding from the torment of James next to her, but he had some sort of sensor for her. He just knew where she would be at all times.

There were two holes dug in the ground, side by side. After everyone had arrived, no one spoke.

Lily noticed Petunia, on the opposite side of the large circle, wasn’t even speaking. In fact, Lily could see miniscule tears running down her face. Vernon, with his hands folded in front of him, forgot about his dignity and pride. He comforted Petunia by pulling out his “lucky” handkerchief and dabbing away the tears. And for once in their life, it looked, to Lily, as if they really cared for each other. She had thought Petunia only wanted Vernon’s wealth and money, but now she saw that there must have been something more than that.

Sharon and Sylvia Anderson were down to the right of Lily. They had never been much of quiet people. In fact, they were almost worse than Petunia, but Lily thanked them for not speaking; just this one time.

A huge gust of wind blew by and Lily felt a ripple of wind pass through the circle. She pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders and saw, out of the corner of her eye, James do the same.

“I welcome you all back again.” Lily looked up from the ground and saw, standing next to the caskets, the priest, waving his arms about with a greeting motion. “We will now say good-bye to William and Christine Evans. But remember this; we are only saying good-bye to them through our mouths. But your heart will always keep William and Christine close by. They shall never truly leave us.”

_What a load of rubbish_ , Lily thought, miserably. _They’re already gone!_

A few of the parents from close families walked up to the caskets and helped lower them into the ground.

Lily was already finding it hard to bear. Just the thought of covering their casket with dirt was already beginning to haunt her. The empty looks in their faces earlier swam into Lily’s mind and she felt that familiar prickle behind her eyes.

Lily watched as the familiar gold of the caskets disappeared bit by bit. And then she heard that soft thump; the thump of one parting with another. It felt as if the caskets weren’t the only thing that had been dropped to the ground. Part of Lily’s heart seemed to fall off with them; the part that held her love for her parents.

And then Lily did something she didn’t think she would ever do in public. Her shoulders began to tremble from the force of her sobs.

But to her amazement, a strong arm fell around her shoulder. Lily looked up, expecting to see Mr. Anderson playing the role of her missing father, but she didn’t see those familiar brown eyes.

In fact, the blueness of the eyes seemed to take Lily in; take her inside some sort-of shield. And that’s exactly what they did to her.

Lily crumbled into James’ arms and felt him hold her close, feeling as if he were shielding her from what may come. James didn’t care that after Lily was finished crying, his shirt would be soaked with tears; he didn’t care that everyone was watching them; he didn’t even care that he was _supposed_ to be hating Lily when he felt he didn’t right now. All that mattered now was the fact that Lily had no one to help her. She just needed a shoulder to cry on.

James pulled his cloak around Lily’s small, delicate figure. He held her close to his chest, not letting anything or anyone near her.

Lily's sobs faded away, as did the crowd around her. No one said anything to Lily as they left for their drive home. No one bothered Lily either: not even Petunia.

It was nearly twenty minutes later when Lily tears had finally subsided and she had the strength to walk away from her parents' graves.

Lily climbed onto Sirius' broom, feeling slightly dizzy. James climbed onto his as well, although instead of flying several feet behind Lily, he held onto the handle of her broom as they flew. Who knew what would happen to her if she started to cry while flying?

It didn't take long to get back home. They let themselves in through Lily's window, like she had before, and entered the quiet house.

Lily let herself fall onto the bed, exhausted, and curl into a ball.

"James?" he heard Lily mutter. "Thank you."

"For what?" James remembered almost this exact moment happening the first time he had come to her house.

Lily gave him a weak smile. "Thanks for being there."

James smiled back as he gently pulled her hair behind her ears. "You're welcome."

Lily closed her eyes and let out a shuddering sigh, sinking deeper into her pillow.

_She looks so beautiful_. This time, James didn't try to contradict himself. Picking up a neatly folded blanket in the corner of Lily's room, James threw it over Lily's small frame. Lily mentally curled into an even smaller shape so that she could stay warm.

James watched Lily for several minutes as she started a steady breathing pattern. She fell into a deep slumber.

Lily looked like a small and fragile china doll. James reached across Lily's face and pulled back another strand of hair.

He stood inches from her face, taking every detail in; taking in every freckle on her nose; taking in every crease on her forehead.

And using up every ounce of courage James had in him, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on Lily's cheek. She began to stir and James, panicking, grabbed his Shooting Star and leapt from the window, making sure to close it quickly and quietly behind him.

Lily opened one of her eyes and raised a hand to her cheek. _What the…_

She glanced around the silent room. James was no where to be found. Giving up on any suspicions, Lily laid her head back onto her pillow and fell asleep. 

**Author's Note: You gotta love that ending... :D**

**I'll post more soon!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	9. Exposure

**Author's Note: I am thoroughly disappointed right now... YesterdayI got into this major Harry Potter movie kick again, and I wanted to watch all of the deleted scenes/behind the scenes type stuff, and now I can't find the second disc for the 3rd movie, and I don't have the bonus disc for the 4th movie... And now I'm going to be thinking about how much I want to watch the bonus stuff and mope around all day because I can't. Ah well... So, to partially get my mind off of it, I decided to upload the next chapter... Have fun. :)**

**Chapter Nine: Exposure**

It was a long ride home for James. Thoughts continued to nag at the back of his mind. And they were all about one thing in particular. Well, one _person_.

He felt as if his head would explode from the pressure and noise building up inside. There would be one thought and then another would often times contradict that one and the pattern would follow for awhile until yet another concept was brought up.

This was exactly why James was thankful, for once in his life, that he could have some extra charms work for his mind to focus on instead of the constant subject of Lily zinging through his head.

James flew through his dormitory window. It was about three in the morning and James hadn’t had any food for nearly two days, now, and his body was getting low on energy.

James tucked his broom away underneath his bed and hid in the shadows, trying to avoid waking the other sleepers in the room.

And then he heard footsteps.

_Damn._ James searched for a spot to hide. _Where to hide, where to hide… Ah!_

James jumped into his own comfortable bed and crawled under the covers. He had just now realized how idiotic he had been two seconds ago to have not thought of this idea before.

“C’mon, Moony, almost there,” a voice whispered and pushed open the dormitory door.

James recognized the voice as Sirius’. _Oh no_ , he moaned to himself. _Remus transformed last night. I wasn’t there…_

There was a small thud and the squeak of springs on a bed bounce up and down. More footsteps and then more squeaks. James waited for the third set of squeaks.

There weren’t any.

Slowly, James opened an eyelid a fraction of a centimeter. But once he saw a dark figure standing before him, he shut his eyes as fast as he could manage.

It wasn’t until the person, whoever it was, sat down, satisfied, that James even dared to open his eyes in the slightest. He watched as the person who had been watching James “sleep,” walked over to Sirius’ bed and lay down.

But why was Sirius watching him?

James swallowed and pushed away the guilty and nauseating feeling of leaving out a best friend as he left quickly and quietly to search for food.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

The morning after the funeral, Lily woke with her clothes from yesterday on, all of which were disheveled, and a loud ruckus in the kitchen.

“I told you to be back no later than ten o’clock, young lady! I was up worried sick!”

“Oh, come on,” said Petunia’s loud and whiny voice. “I wasn’t out _that_ late! And plus, I needed some support in my time of trouble! I was merely looking for someone to help me get back on my feet again after the death of my parents!”

“Petunia! You came back at one in the morning! _Three hours later!_ You didn’t even bother to phone or tell me you needed _support_! I might have let you stay longer if I knew you wanted _support_! I guess you were just thinking you could just waltz right on into the house without any punishment, weren’t you? Well, you thought wrong! I may not be your mother, but I _am_ a mother! And as long as I am still a guardian over you and Lily I will treat you both as my own children! Do not even _try_ to think you can get away with this again, or your punishment will be tripled!” Mrs. Anderson yelled.

Lily crawled out from underneath one of her blankets and walked down to the kitchen. Neither of the ladies had noticed Lily yet, however.

“So, what’s the penalty?” Petunia asked, almost lazily.

“You’re grounded.” Mrs. Anderson picked up a dirty pan and began running it under some sink water. “For two weeks.”

“Two weeks?!?” Petunia yelled, outraged. “But Mum would never ground me for more than a week!”

“Do I need to make it three weeks?”

“No! I mean, two weeks is fine.”

Mrs. Anderson glared at Petunia. “Good. Then don’t let it happen again.”

“Morning, Mrs. Anderson,” Lily piped up from the shadow.

“Oh, Lily, darling, I didn’t see you there! How are you this morning?”

“Lily?!?” Petunia shrieked. And then regained her wits and realized another adult was standing in the room. “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, Petunia, relax.” Petunia stuck her nose in the air and left through the doorway to enter the next room. “Lily, are you feeling better? When I came home, you were already knocked out and slept that whole time up until now. You’re not coming down with something, are you? I saw your window was left open, but I hope that didn’t cause you to get sick.”

“No, I’m fine. I guess I was just a little tired. But I think I’ll be going back after I get dressed again. School’s starting up pretty soon. I don’t want to be behind in ay of my classes or anything,” Lily said, giving a weak smile.

Mrs. Anderson let out a loud sigh from deep in her chest. “I’m sorry, Lily, but my mind is off wandering somewhere else. You know I really didn’t want to yell at Petunia like that. I don’t even know what you two had to go through in the past few days. Who knows, she may be up in her room crying at this very moment.”

Lily highly doubted it. Petunia was similar to Lily in the ways that they tended to grieve. Both held up all of their pain inside of them until there was too much and everything exploded all at once. Lily’s explosion, however, had occurred in the past few days. Though Petunia’s was more periodically, Lily knew that she would not be up in her room crying.

“If I know Petunia like I do, I would say she’s just fine,” Lily said.

“Alright, then. So, what were you saying?”

“Just that I was going to leave sometime soon.”

“But are you sure you don’t want to stay just one more day? You won’t intrude, I’m sure,” Mrs. Anderson said.

Lily’s mind flashed to Petunia’s face when they had seen each other that past night. “I’m sorry. I’ve got last minute homework still,” Lily lied. “I actually better get my stuff packed now.”

“Oh, did you bring some other clothes? I didn’t see any bags of yours around here.”

“They’re outside. You know, I went straight to the funeral before I came here. And I just left my things outside because I was too tired to bring it in yesterday morning.”

“Yes. But that also begs the question: how _did_ you get in?” she asked.

“Uh – I was an expert at lock-picking when I was younger,” Lily lied again. “I should really get upstairs now.”

“Alright, Lily. Come down if you feel like having any lunch.”

“Lunch?” Lily looked at the clock on the wall. It was a quarter until one. “Wow, I slept a lot.” Lily let out one last yawn and walked up the stairs.

Lily opened the door and walked inside. It was still her same old room. Nothing had really changed about it. But for some odd reason it felt as if she were stepping into a new world completely. Maybe this was just a strange side effect after your parents…

Lily cringed. It was hard to think about her parents now. It had been much different before. The day that they died, Lily felt as if she wouldn’t be able to go on much longer, but that was also before she’d promised herself that she wouldn’t be sad. Lily had told herself that no matter how much it hurt, she wouldn’t let her guard down. She wouldn’t cry over spilt milk.

But isn’t this a bit more than spilt milk?

Everything seemed to be building up inside of Lily like a dam, waiting to collapse. And yesterday, seeing everyone, being around her house, the very same house her parents had once played with Lily in, had once stepped foot in; everything began crashing into Lily’s organized system of emotions.

But then James came along. Lily never really understood why he told her to cry, and that she couldn’t keep it all bundled up inside of her. None of that really did make any sense to her until yesterday; the day she _did_ let it all out.

Lily had spilt all of her emotions onto James. She cried her heart out until she felt there was none left to give.

But yet, James was still there. He stayed with Lily and made sure she got home safe. He held her when she needed holding; he supported her when she needed supporting. It’s like James is a new person when he’s alone; almost as if he has a split personality. He was actually _nice_ to Lily when none other was around to witness the unbelievable.

But, of course, Lily would never admit any of this stuff aloud. Especially when she still hated his guts.

… She _did_ still hate him – didn’t she?

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sirius woke up with a throbbing headache that morning. He knew it was because of the night before when he had gone to bring Remus back from the whomping willow. He had, stupidly, not watched where he was walking. Needless to say, a large, low branch must have just jumped into his path when he wasn’t looking. Now, in a muggle world, people would think you were just not paying any attention and ran into something without looking. But in the magic world, nearly _anything_ was possible.

He changed into his clothes and walked down to the empty common room. It was a little past eight and no one, to Sirius’ knowledge, had woken up besides himself quite yet.

Sirius pulled out his book of drawings from his inner robe pocket along with a muggle pen.

He began to draw a picture of himself on one side of the paper and James on the other. They had their arms slung around each other’s shoulders with a grin plastered onto their faces.

Sirius added bits of color here and there until he felt a pair of small, warm hands cover his own eyes.

“Hey, Sirius, that’s a good picture,” the person said, instead of the traditional, “Guess who!”

“Bella,” he sighed, thankful it wasn’t anyone else. She waltzed around the chair and sat across from Sirius on the couch.

“What are you doing up? Normally you don’t wake up until about eleven,” Bella commented.

“Oh, I had some, uh, stuff on my mind.”

“Stuff?”

“Yeah,” he mumbled, beginning to draw again. “Stuff.”

Bella let out a small smile towards Sirius who kept his full focus on the small sheet of paper. “This wouldn’t, possibly, have anything to do with James, now, would it?”

“James? No!” Sirius let out a high, false laugh. “Well, sorta, not really. Just a little.” Bella narrowed her eyes at Sirius. “Yeah. All James,” Sirius sighed, giving up. “But how’d you know?”

“People just have their own ways of thinking things out. You happen to do it the most obvious way of all.” She gestured towards his drawing and Sirius glanced at it seeing himself and James staring back. “It’s your pictures. Your thoughts come out as art,” she said without missing a beat. “So what’s wrong?”

Sirius sighed again and dropped his pen, now focusing on Bella. “He’s keeping something from me. I have no clue whatsoever, but there’s something he’s not telling me! It’s one of those vibes you get, you know, you can just sense it after awhile. I mean, for the past week or so, James just leaves for a day or two and says he was out with some girl or playing Quidditch. Which, by the way, is a down-right lie because one: he has always played Quidditch with me and two: I talked to his girlfriend from Hufflepuff yesterday; she says she has hardly spoken a mere hello to James in the past two weeks! Wouldn’t you find that a little odd?!?” Sirius was now out of his chair, pacing around the room, livid. “And two nights ago he wasn’t with us to drop Remus off at the whomping willow, yesterday he wasn’t there to bring Remus back, and - ”

“What are you going on about, Sirius? What’s this about Remus?” Bella asked.

“ _Shit_.” Sirius spun on his heels and locked eyes with Bella who looked confused. He immediately headed to her. There was a strong urge to kiss her on spot that Sirius had to fight as hard as he could. “Bella, forget everything I just said. If the guys ever find out what I just said to you, they’d kill me! Don’t even tell anyone what you, uh, _think_ I was talking about. I swear, if - ”

“Sirius, calm down! Your secret is safe with me. If you don’t want me to tell anyone, I won’t tell anybody. Not a word,” Bella said, pretending to zip up her lips.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “You promise? You’ll tell no one?”

“No one whatsoever,” she responded, giving him a kind smile.

“Not even Lily?” he pushed, knowing that this was one of her key weak spots in keeping secrets for others.

“Not even Lily.”

Sirius grinned and swept Bella up in a bear hug. After putting her back down on the couch, he sunk in next to her and she saw him visibly relax. “Thank you, Bella.”

“Anyway,” Bella spoke, “continue with your problems.”

“Well, there’s not much more to say. James has been lying to me, he’s been avoiding me, and not acting like himself! What else is there to say?” Sirius huffed, crossing his arms over his chest.

“You just have to let him work out his own problems.”

“No, Bella, you don’t understand! He’s my best friend – _and he’s been lying to me!_ We’ve been best friends since we met in diapers! We’ve never hidden anything from each other - ”

“Sirius, do you have any idea what you’re saying?” Bella asked, smiling. “Have you told James about talking to _me_ at all?”

Sirius paused, glancing at Bella out of the corner of his eye. “Well, no, but - ”

“No ‘buts’, Sirius. It’s the same exact thing! Don’t you think he might be feeling the same way if he had any suspicions?”

“But _I_ never lied to him!”

“Sirius! Quit coming up with excuses! Lily’s been acting the same way all break as well! She came home early and won’t even tell us _why_! People aren’t perfect, they’re normal! _We keep secrets!_ If we didn’t, the world would probably shrivel up and _die_!” Sirius chuckled as he listened to Bella’s speech, and he almost immediately stopped after he started. He stood and walked over to the fireplace, sitting directly in front of it. She sighed and joined his, leaning on his shoulder. “But if it means _that_ much to you, I’ll se what I can find out.” Sirius turned and grinned down at her.

“You’d do that for me?”

Bella laughed. “Sirius, you ask too many questions.” She sat up on her knees. “But - ”

“I knew there would be a catch to this…” Sirius grumbled.

“If I get any secrets from him, you’ll have to tell him about us ‘enemies’ becoming friends, alright?”

He moaned. “Why? What he doesn’t know can’t hurt him!”

“Sirius.” Bella narrowed her eyes at him. “You can’t have me find out something if you don’t tell him anything in return. Now, I suggest that later today you talk to James alone. Tell him that you know there’s a secret he’s keeping and you want to know what it is so you can help him. Just say that! And… If he says he says he doesn’t have any secrets he’s keeping from you, then… Well, we’ll figure it out from there.”

Sirius had a half-smile on his face, glowing from the burning embers left in the fireplace. “Sure.”

Bella sighed and gave up. “I’ll see you later,” she said, giving Sirius a small kiss on the cheek.

All Sirius could do was nod as he watched the last of the embers die out.

It wasn’t for another ten minutes that Sirius even budged from his spot. He brought his hand up to his cheek, remembering the kiss and who it was given by.

Sirius grinned.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“Miss? Excuse me, ma’am?”

Lily woke with a start as a whistle sounded outside her compartment. She glanced around the room and saw the co-conductor standing straight in his red and gold uniform with a small hat on his head to match. Lily thought he didn’t look much older than twenty years.

“Miss, I was just wanting to come back to say that we’re being close to Hogwarts ‘bout now.”

Lily yawned and thanked the man. He headed back to the front of the train as Lily tucked her small pillow back inside her trunk.

Her body began to jolt back and forth as the train slowed to s stop and Lily removed her things from the train and stepped onto the familiar grounds of Hogwarts. She looked up at the large castle covered in snow. It was like a small, fragile, glass miniature in a snow globe where the snow all fell in rhythm, together as one.

It wasn’t too long until Lily found herself unpacking her trunk again. She sighed and fell onto her bed, molding into the springs underneath her. It was a good thing she had a chance to sleep on the train. Especially when nowadays she had one focus on her mind and it was still that darn James Potter.

_Why can’t he just leave me alone?_ she found herself pleading, silently. _Why won’t he let me work this all out on my own? I have for sixteen years now, why is he just starting to help now?_

Lily groaned. Why were people the way they were? And for that matter, why did they have to have feelings and emotions? If Lily couldn’t be sad, she _wouldn’t_ be sad right now. If Lily couldn’t be happy, she _wouldn’t_ be happy right now. But… That also begs the question, why was she even happy?

Even Lily didn’t know the answer. She knew that ever since her parents had died, she felt like killing herself as well. But she didn’t. There was a reason, holding her back. Maybe it was her friends. She probably just didn’t want them to be sad once she left. Maybe the whole prospect of magic and Hogwarts held Lily back from killing herself. Maybe James…

_Hold it! What are you thinking about, Lily? Why would James be the reason holding you back from killing yourself? That’s absurd!_

Lily nodded, agreeing with her mind. But something in her heart told her differently. Maybe, if James wouldn’t have been there for her when she needed somebody most over break, she might’ve killed herself.

Lily stared blankly forward, sorting things out. Nothing seemed to be falling into place. At least not quite yet.

Students began returning to their dormitories, stuffed from the large dinner.

“Lily!” Breanna shrieked, running in the room and hugging Lily on the spot. “Where have you been? You just keep disappearing!”

Lily shrugged. “Nowhere special,” she lied.

Bella entered, following Breanna. “Oh, hullo Lily. Good to see you again,” she said, offhandedly. Bella collapsed onto her bed and pulled out her old diary, writing in it.

Lily, however, hadn’t seen Bella writing in it since she had got it from her aunt on Christmas in second year.

“Bella, what on earth have you been doing since I was away? You’re writing in your diary again?” Lily asked, shocked by Bella’s sudden interest in her diary.

“I’ll tell you,” Bella replied slyly, “if _you_ tell _me_ why you came back early from break.”

“What?!?” Lily exclaimed, shocked at the sudden turning of tables. Lily wasn’t exactly quite ready yet to tell her two friends about her problems at home. Lily didn’t think she could handle telling such a depressing story to another person until the time was… _Until the time is right. But, enough of this, back to the subject at hand! C’mon, girl, get your head back into the game!_ “I will _not_ do such a thing! I was just asking a simple question! Why make it such a big deal?”

Bella snapped her diary shut with her feather quill inside the pages she had just written and tucked it underneath her pillow. “My question was just as simple as yours, Lily. Why don’t you answer it?”

Lily faltered. She saw her point, but refused to give in. She then began laughing, boldly. “Bella, Bella, Bella. I think you’re just blowing this whole thing out of proportion! Oh, never mind. I’m going to go work on my potions paper. You know - finishing touches.”

“Ok,” Bella said. “Mind if I come with?”

“Sure,” Lily muttered. The girls walked out the door, with their book bags slung over their shoulders. “Oh, shoot,” Lily faked, “I forgot a quill and ink. Hold on, let me grab some. You wait out here, I’ll be right back.”

“Alright.”

Lily ran back inside, closing the door behind her. _Ok, now to explore._ She ran over to Bella’s bed and lifted her pillow, remembering where she had put her diary.

But her diary wasn’t the only thing underneath. There was a folded piece of tattered parchment. Lily picked it up and opened it.

Lily’s insides squirmed. _Potter…_

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James walked up the Grand Staircase to Gryffindor Tower. He wasn’t in the best of moods, although he wasn’t in the worst of moods either.

But he had been doing something he normally wouldn’t be caught doing in public. He was thinking, as he had been quite often recently. He thought of Sirius and what he should say to him. There _wasn’t_ really anything he could say to Sirius without giving away something about his winter break. He had promised to Lily he wouldn’t tell anyone. He’d already broken that promise by telling Remus. If James told Sirius, he might blab to the whole school before daybreak the next day!

But when he had been hovering over James the night before, it was as if he _already_ knew James wasn’t asleep. That was the problem with best friends, sometimes.

They know you too well.

Sirius wasn’t the only person James had been thinking about all day, though. In fact, he was thought of less than the other person on his mind yet again: Lily.

She just seemed to get herself planted into his head a lot. He couldn’t help it! It wasn’t _his_ fault that she was so annoying and Irish-tempered – 

_And beautiful and delicate and one of the bravest people in the world…_

_Stop it!_ James nearly yelled aloud. _She is_ not _a brave, pretty, little girl! She may_ think _she is, but she’s not!_

_Give it up,_ that annoying little voice shot back. _You like – no – love her. You can’t help it. That’s just the way love works._

James shook his head, trying to rid himself of the thoughts invading his mind.

He entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady and lay down on the empty couch, massaging his temples. There wasn’t anyone in the common room. Nearly everyone had trotted off to their respectable dormitories without a doubt and settled in for an early night in bed.

James closed his eyes, trying to rid himself of the painful pounding in his head.

But to no avail. He began fighting a mental battle with himself.

_I have to tell Lily why her parents were killed. She doesn’t even know! I’m surprised she hasn’t cornered me or anything trying to figure out why I’ve had all of those premonitions._

_Since when do_ you _care what she thinks as long as you get away with something?_

_She has a right to know why her parents were killed!_

_But she still hasn’t asked you why yet! You even said so yourself! So why tell her?_

_She has a right!!!_

_You know, I think this is all just an act of love._

_You –_ James stopped. He was fighting with himself! And it was the most pathetic fight he’d ever had as well! Whatever his other half was thinking, it wasn’t right. Lily had a right!

James stood up off of the couch and started walking towards the girls’ staircase. He hadn’t taken more than one step when he heard a noise.

_Thump. Thump. Thump._

Now that, James knew, was _not_ his throbbing headache anymore.

“James! Hold up, I need to talk to you.”

He spun and was face to face with Sirius.

James almost took a step away from him, frightened of whatever it was Sirius seemed so eager to talk about, because it _obviously_ had nothing of any sort since there was no trace of a smile anywhere on his face.

“Sirius, this isn’t exactly the best - ”

He was cut off by footsteps thundering down the girls’ staircase. It was Lily, and she was livid.

“James Potter!” she yelled across the common room.

“Uh-oh,” Sirius chuckled. “It’s your first _and_ last name, Prongs! You’re in for it now,” Sirius muttered as he stood behind James to eavesdrop.

“What the hell is this?!?” Lily yelled, holding up a folded piece of parchment.

“What is what?” James said, ignoring his migraine.

“Lily!” Bella screeched. “What are you doing? That’s mine! You have no right to be in my stuff!”

Another pair of footsteps thundered down the stairs and ran up behind Lily. Bella attempted to pull the thing in Lily’s hand away, but failed as James managed to grab it first.

He unfolded the parchment, piece by piece, and stared, open-mouthed, at it.

Sirius, hidden in the shadows, chanced a glance at the paper.

It was a very detailed picture, very neatly drawn. No smudge marks covered the negative space around the picture. Sirius noticed it was a picture of a person. No, it was two people.

_Hold on._

Sirius stepped out of the shadows, shocking the girls, and yanked the parchment from James’ hands.

It was the very same one he, himself, had drawn for Bella and given to her as a gift.

Bella stepped forward again, past Lily, to confront Sirius. But it wasn’t she who spoke first.

“Bella,” he whispered, inches from her face. “You broke our promise. You said you wouldn’t tell anyone.”

“I didn’t! Lily - ” Bella stopped as she glanced into his stony, gray eyes and felt a shiver run down her spine.

James and Lily began to go off in their own world, bickering.

“Potter, you keep that – that – _animal_ away from m best friend!”

“Animal?!?” James yelled, astounded. “The only animal I see here is _you_ ,” he hissed, shoving her shoulder. Lily gasped and brought her hand to the place he had touched her. She grew warm and her arm began to tingle. She looked back up, focusing once again on James, and noticed that his gaze was diverted to his own hand with a rosy tinge crawling up across his cheeks.

Lily shook herself out of the reverie and brought back her confident, old self. “If _he_ comes anywhere near Bella or sends her anymore…” Lily fumbled for the right word, “ _love-_ pictures - ”

“Love-pictures?!?” James yelled, scandalized. “Sirius isn’t someone who would fall head-over-heels for an _enemy_!”

_Look at yourself, Prongsie._

James shook away this thought. “Plus, I’ve never, in my whole life, seen Sirius draw anything more than stick figures!”

“Well, it sure as hell wasn’t Bella! She hates you and Sirius and all of your other freaky little friends! She’d never even talk to Sirius without having a good purpose to! And even _then_ , it wouldn’t be a civilized conversation!”

Bella shook her head at the childish teenagers. It really was a nice thing they were doing, protecting their best friends (who, by the way, Lily and James were completely oblivious of), but it was for all of the wrong reasons.

Bella hadn’t done anything in the first place to cause this to happen! Lily was the one who said she left her quill in the room and needed to get it. But what does she do? She invades Bella’s privacy without her permission! Next thing she knew, Lily was bounding out of their dormitory and down the stairs to have another chance to fight James.

But even if it wasn’t Bella’s fault, Lily somehow managed to find out. And even if it _was_ only a small promise, it was still a promise, none the less.

“Sirius, I swear I - ”

“Bella,” he whispered again. She began to shake. She almost wished he would yell at her to make a point, but he didn’t. She wished he would look away, but he didn’t.

Bella also wished that she had hid the drawing in a safer spot, but she hadn’t.

Even if you _are_ magical, not all wishes come true.

Bella glanced at Sirius and waited for him to talk.

“I trusted you.”

“I know you did, Sirius, and I - ”

“You have no idea what this means to me, Bella. If I can’t trust you with such a small secret as not telling Lily that we’re friends, what _can_ I trust you with now?”

“But I didn’t…” Bella’s voice trailed off and she began wringing her hands and looking at her feet. She didn’t _tell_ Lily about “befriending the enemy.” But Sirius was one hundred percent correct. It was her fault she didn’t hide the drawing enough to keep a secret.

What about the thing Sirius had slipped to her earlier that morning? How could he be able to trust her now that she couldn’t keep the smallest secret in the world? _Imagine the burden on his shoulders now…_

Bella moved her gaze upward toward Sirius’ face again, though his eyes didn’t look the same as before.

He didn’t look as tough or as strong, now that his face was softened and a small teardrop fell from his eye.

Bella immediately stepped forward, about to comfort him, but he backed away before she even made a move to step forward. And as quick as he could, Sirius grabbed the picture from James’ hand and stepped in front of the fire.

Turning, Sirius glanced at Bella again. She watched as his eyes flickered down to her neck. Tentatively, Bella brought her hand up and felt the necklace, the very same one Sirius had given her, dangle loosely.

Swallowing, Sirius crumpled up the drawing and threw it into the fire. It hit one of the logs and fell back out on the floor with one of the corners still smoking.

“Sirius, wait – stop!” Bella called as he ran up the stairs. She stood, unmoving, until she remembered the picture that had fallen out of the fire. Bella went to the fireside and picked up the picture. Half of the picture was in ashes. Bella unfolded what was left.

Instead of a moving, smiling Sirius and Bella, the spell had worn off, somehow being affected by the fire. But that wasn’t the only difference; Sirius was no longer in the photo at all. He had been burnt off.

Bella turned and ran up the stairs, clutching the tearstained picture. She ran to her bed and tore the bed hangings shut as she sobbed into her pillow.

Funny how the smallest mistake can end up blowing up in your face.

But Lily and James, still in the common room, carried on bickering, not noticing that they were the only ones left.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

The minute Breanna had sensed the beginning of an argument brewing in her dormitory between Lily and Bella, she had escaped to the library as quickly as she could.

Nearly every person in the school thought of Breanna as a brainless ditz with no goals whatsoever in life. And when she said nearly everyone, she meant all but one. The funny thing about it all was that the one person who knew her best wasn’t even Lily or Bella.

He seemed to have known her even before she started to open up to him. He already knew she wasn’t who she appeared to be. He already knew of her fascination with fairy tale stories and their happy endings where the prince always comes and saves the day. He already knew almost every secret she’d kept in her soul up until the moment they became friends. Needless to say, they were _extremely_ good friends.

Breanna slipped around the outskirts of the library, avoiding unwanted stares from bystanders. She sneaked to her usual, hidden spot behind a bookcase filled with books on the topic of the Goblin Rebellion from first year. No one ever came back here. The assignment for Goblin Rebellions was so easy there was no need to even get a book to understand it.

She curled up in a large, comfortable chair, nearly twice her size. Breanna was particularly small for her age. She had thick locks of wavy, brown hair that was currently pulled up into a loose bun with strands falling out and framing her face. Her eyes were one of the prettiest things of all of her features. They were a bright hazel, not as dark as most hazel-colored eyes were. If you looked into her face, her eyes were always the most energetic thing on her as they sparkled whenever she spoke.

Breanna was engrossed in yet another fairy tale book when he found her at nearly nine thirty that night.

“Hey, Breanna. Where’ve you been? I was looking for you since after lunch.”

“Oh, hey. Bella and Lily started to get in a fight and I left our room.

“Yikes,” he muttered and sat on a foot stool near Breanna. “What are you reading?”

“Oh, it’s called Snow White. Lily gave it to me. It’s a muggle book. I’m at the part where Snow White just ate a poisonous apple.”

“Exciting,” the boy murmured, watching her face as she talked, entranced.

“Lily said that Prince Charming is going to come at the end of the book and save her,” Breanna said, flipping the page.

“Oh, why’d she spoil it?”

Breanna just shrugged. “I don’t care.”

The boy smiled. “I best be going. You know, check to make sure the common room isn’t a mess. And you may want to get back up to your dormitory soon as well. Madame Pince is going to start searching the library for stray readers and check to see that no one is left.”

“She won’t check here, but I’ll come up in a bit anyways. Let me just finish this chapter,” Breanna said, smiling at him.

“Ok. See you later, Breanna.”

“Bye, Remus.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“No it wasn’t! Sirius would never do that!” James yelled.

“Oh, _yes_ he would!” Lily said, crossing her arms.

James glared at her and finally let out a final huff. “Just go away! You don’t have your facts right – ‘because it wasn’t Sirius!”

“Fine!” she shrieked. “I will!” And in a flash of red hair, Lily had left the common room, marching down the hallways where Remus just passed her and _entered_ the common room.

“Er – Prongs, buddy. What on _earth_ did you say to her? She looks like a flaming tomato!”

James shrugged. “So?”

Remus shook his head. “So… What’s the deal?”

James groaned and stomped up to his dormitory, Remus close in pursuit.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

The minute Sirius threw his drawing into the fireplace, he ran straight up to his dormitory, scared. Why he was scared, Sirius wasn’t exactly sure.

He shut the door behind him, leaving the lights off, and crawled onto his bed, closing his bed hangings.

And did the one thing he hadn’t done since he was ten years old. He cried. But the worst part about it was that he didn’t even know why. Maybe it was just all of those small things in life combined. Maybe it was because of his encounter with Bella. He didn’t know.

After about ten minutes, his sobs had died down and Sirius began to sort out his thoughts. What would happen now? What was Bella doing? Was she ok? What was she thinking? Did she even care? His head continued to fill with various questions similar to these.

Sirius wiped a few tears away with his pillow and his mood began to change. _This whole thing is so stupid! It wasn’t even her fault! I got mad at her for nothing! It was just a small promise. It wasn’t as if Lily and James wouldn’t find out soon. I was going to tell James today anyway! I’m such a prat! I can’t believe I got mad at Bella. I don’t think she’ll ever forgive me._

And then his self-idiocy shifted to anger. _But I can’t believe James and Lily are still in the common room arguing! It’s almost as if they_ enjoy _it! And they’re fighting for all of the wrong reasons._

This was how his mood stayed for nearly the rest of the night. Well, that is, until around ten thirty when two figures entered the dormitory when his mood changed to curiosity. Peter had already came in directly after dinner and fallen asleep as his snores filled the room constantly. James and Remus were the only two who had not come back from wherever they had been.

They talked in silent whispers for awhile until James finally shushed Remus in the middle of a sentence and pulled out his wand, muttering a spell and Peter’s snores turned quiet.

“Sorry ‘bout that, Remus. Couldn’t hear a word you were saying. Start back at the beginning, now,” James said, collapsing onto his bed which lies between Sirius’ and Remus’ beds.

“Well,” Remus said, sitting on his own bed, “I just wanted to know what happen yesterday and all.” Sirius raised an eyebrow. Did Remus know more than he did? Or was he just as curious as Sirius was? “Were you with Lily again?”

Sirius’ jaw dropped. James – with Lily – away from Hogwarts – without being forced. Now that was just something you _never_ hear everyday.

James sighed and lie on his back, staring at the hangings above his head. “I’m so confused, Remus. Can’t we talk about this some other time? I still need time to sort this all out.”

“I take that as a yes.”

“Remus, please let me sleep. I feel like my brain is going into hyper drive. There’s so much going on and I need more time!”

“James, you’ve had hours and hours of ‘quiet time’ to yourself without interruption. You need to talk this out. You need help deciding what to do, don’t you?” Remus said.

James groaned. “How do you know all of this, Moony? You’re good.”

“I know.”

James let out a soft chuckle.

“Ok, so why’d you leave this time? What happened?”

James started into his story. “You remember how Lily’s parents died? Well, Lily left to go to their funeral. And I thought that, since I had been, well,” James swallowed, “the – er – _cause_ of their deaths, I should go to the funeral and make sure Lily didn’t do anything drastic. I know it may be hard to believe, but Lily’s not as predictable as I thought she was. I mean, have you ever seen her cry at anything before? Even in first year?”

Silence. Sirius assumed that Remus must have shaken his head because James continued with his talk. “Exactly. You know that she cried once her parents were killed, but I know that the minute she left Dumbledore’s office after explaining what happened, she stopped. She’s never cried in public. But at the burial, something happened. She – I don’t know what it was. Some part of her must have broken down and she had nothing left to support her then. And she just cried; in front of nearly fifty people. And I don’t think there was much family of hers there. It was in front of people she probably hardly knew. She just – broke. Do you understand what I’m talking about, Moony?”

Remus spoke. “I’m pretty sure I know what it is you’re talking about. But why did she break down then?”

“Dunno. I remember, when my parents died, I felt as if I was losing part of myself once they left me. But that was when I saw them die. I didn’t cry much at the burial.” Sirius pulled back a corner of the hangings around his bed and watched Remus and James just in time to see a look of realization fall across James’ face. “I think I know what happened. She keeps stuff bottled up inside of her for so long, it all has to eventually come out at one point. And I think that the thought of never physically seeing her parents again once they lowered their coffins in the ground was too much and threw her emotions haywire. She just… Lost it.”

Remus smiled. “You’re making it sound as if this is uncommon. James, a lot of people cry at burials!”

“Yes, I know, Remus. But this is _Lily_ we’re talking about! That’s not like her. She was talking to me later as if I were really her friend. And, you know,” James swallowed.

“No,” Remus said clearly, “I don’t know.”

James rolled his eyes and sighed. “I thought that everything between us was finally calm and we were on a good basis. But then, when she fought me in the common room earlier…”

Sirius cringed at the thought of the fight earlier.

“James, I think that she was probably feeling just as confused as you by then and didn’t really know what to do.”

“Yeah, maybe.” There was silence. “And there’s another problem I’ve got.”

“Yes?”

“It’s, uh,” James glanced over at Sirius’ bed to see the hangings closed and unmoving. Sirius, however, still managed to peek out and he, himself, swallowed.

“Sirius?”

“Yes. I kinda feel guilty for not telling him about any of this. He knows, too, and I know it! Well, he doesn’t know what it is, but he knows I’m keeping something from him. The way he’s been acting and everything, he knows.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. _Well, only part of that statement was right._

Remus nodded his head, thinking. “So are you going to tell him?”

“I don’t know! That’s kind-of my problem here, Remus! I know that he’s my best friend and all, but he can’t keep any secrets! I tell him one day I’m thinking about asking some girl out, he’ll go and tell the whole school before I even see her the next day! He’s only ever kept one secret in his life and that’s you being a werewolf as well as becoming animagi.”

“James, you’re forgetting some key points there, though. Me being a – er – _werewolf_ and you three becoming animagi is very important to keep secret and tell nobody. He understands the seriousness of that situation. Now, you would tell him you’re going to ask a girl out, but he doesn’t find that in any way important or life risking, so he doesn’t bother keeping it secret!”

“But still, there’s only one thing he’s ever kept quiet!”

“And how do you know that, James? What if he was told a secret from another person – what if _I_ told him something that I didn’t tell you and Peter. If he kept that secret, you would never know that he was keeping something from you, now would you?”

Sirius smiled. Remus was always on his toes. And Sirius was thankful that he could defend him on such short notice.

James started to talk again. “But still - ”

Sirius, not wanting to hear any more of James’ insistence on keeping this a secret from Sirius himself, made a big show out of rolling over and the noisy springs on his bed and letting out a soft snort as if he were about to snore. Then he began breathing deeply to make it seem as if he were still in a heavy sleep.

“Er, Moony, can we finish this some other time?”

Remus shook his head and crawled under the covers, three of the four boys still in their clothes from that day. “But you have to tell Sirius. If you let him know that, to you, this is a serious situation, he won’t tell anyone! James, you need to have trust in him.”

Sirius smiled to his bed hangings. _We’ll see what happens tomorrow…_

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Once her fierce fight with James had ended, Lily left the common room and went straight to the spot where she always went to after a fight with James Potter; her wall.

But Lily was so caught up in actually trying to get there that she almost forgot her last visit.

Lily stopped in her tracks, standing underneath a flaming candle. After a few minutes of silence, Lily continued walking, looking for another place to hide.

But she never made it to where she wanted to. There was something – or some _one_ in her way. At first she thought it was a teacher, but then she noticed that this person, whoever it was, did not seem as if they enjoyed wandering the halls that night.

Lily hoped that the person would move just a few inches so she could see their face. And then they did.

It was Amos Diggory. Being the Head Boy his last year here, Amos had night duty every other night, opposite the Head Girl.

Lily did some thinking, and smiled. It wasn’t a good smile, though; almost an evil smile.

Excited, Lily turned and ran back to her dormitory, much giddier than before.

**Next chapter, there'll be a bit of Breanna/Remus, quite a bit of Sirius/Bella, and of course, who can forget the Lily/James conflict? Also, Helen (the wall) makes a reappearance...**

**I'll try to post it sooner rather than later!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	10. Ballroom Dancing

**Author's Note: Nothing to say. It's been a little while since I've updated, but some pre-school stuff is starting to get in the way... I'll try to keep on top of this better than I did in the future!**

**Enjoye the next chapter!**

**Chapter Ten: Ballroom Dancing**

_Can I come in?_

**_Oh. It’s you._ **

A small doorknob protruded out of the bottom of the wall and the boy walked inside. He sprawled over the couch and sighed, deep in thought. Indeed, almost so deep, that he didn’t realize the room he was inside had writing on the wall.

\- **_And you don’t even say hello!_**

He raised an eyebrow and walked over to the wall.

_I beg your pardon. What were you saying?_

There was a loud noise, almost as if someone were grumbling out of frustration.

**_You don’t pay any attention! You just barge in here and think I have no feelings!_ **

_Are you having a bad day?_

**_And here you go, making jokes!_ **

_Is this a bad time?_

**_You just keep going!_ **

_I haven’t exactly had the best day either, thanks for asking._

**_So you think that_ I’m _the one who’s supposed to be responsible for asking how you are?_**

_Um…_

**_When do_ I _get a chance to tell someone how_ I _feel?_**

_Honestly, I have no idea what’s going on. I just wanted to come in here and think._

**_Well, then, today’s not your day!_ **

_Alright, fine! How are you today?_

**_Well, now, don’t go changing the topic on me!_ **

The boy rolled his eyes. _Then what_ do _you want?_

**_Nobody cares about me! I want you to ask me how_ I _am!_**

_I just did._

**_Oh. Did you really?_** The walls seemed to turn a pale shade of pink, hardly noticeable, unless you looked hard enough. **_Well. I’m sorry._**

_No problem. So… How was your day?_

**_So-so. You?_ **

_Rotten._

**_Ok. Well, we’re off to a good start. So, what’s your name?_ **

_The name’s James Potter._

**_My name’s Helen. Helga Hufflepuff created – James, did you say? James_ Potter?**

_Yeah, last time I checked, that was my name._ There was a long pause in which neither the wall nor James wrote anything. _Why?_

**_Oh, just clarifying. So… What have you been up to recently?_ **

James raised an eyebrow at the wall’s awkward mood swings. _Well… There’s this girl –_

**_Yes, yes, continue. Who’s this girl? What happened?_** the wall asked, clearly interested.

_Could I tell you first before you interrupt me?_

**_Oh, yes, dear, keep going._ **

_Ok. Well, there’s this girl._

**_You already said that._ **

_I_ know _I did! But will you let me finish???_

**_Sorry. Continue._ **

_Thank you._ James sighed deeply and wrote. _Ok, this girl has been, since first year, my enemy._

**_Uh-huh._ **

_Be patient! Now, recently, something - happened._

Yes…

_And I feel so confused._

Ah, I see. What else?

_That’s it._

That’s it? Come on, there has to be more.

_Other than I feel like it’s my fault her parents died, I’ve never felt this way towards any other girl before, and I still think she hates my guts, no, nothin’ else happened. No, wait –I think my best friend is mad at me and we’ve never fought before._

**_Oh._** The wall seemed to be taken aback by this long string of comments. **_Well, that’s… Nice._**

_Yeah. It’s been a great week._

Yes, I can see…

_I should probably go. You know, class starts today._

**_Well, ok. But do come back and visit! I get lonely, you know._ **

James smiled. He had never talked to this wall before, always used it for a space to just sit and think without anyone else around. _Can you let me out?_

**_Sure can._** A large red button appeared below James’ hand. **_Good-bye, James Potter._**

_See ya later._

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

It was perfect! _Flawless!_ What could go wrong?

“Amos!” Lily called, watching her target enter the empty halls accompanied by a girl on his arm.

Amos Diggory turned to look at who was speaking to him. “Lily?” he asked, astonished. _Well,_ Lily thought, _he probably would be, considering I haven’t talked to him since we broke up!_

“Hey, Amos! How’ve you been? Life treating you well?”

“Er – Lily, do you need something?” he asked, sneaking a glance at the girl on his arm to see her reaction to Lily speaking to him.

“No, not really. I was just wondering if I could talk to you outside for a bit. You know,” she said, flirtatiously, “ _alone_.”

He got a sly grin on his face and turned to his partner. “Go to breakfast – I’ll meet you there.”

Lily grinned and turned toward the front doors, not even waiting for Amos to catch up, though she already knew he was following her.

Once she stepped outside, she took a sharp turn toward the bench to her right and sat down, waiting for Amos.

“I knew it,” he said, once he sat next to her. “I knew you’d come around to your senses soon enough. You couldn’t resist me.”

“Yes,” Lily drawled, playing along. “James has annoyed me so much – I can’t stand him any more. I _need_ you Amos. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to live without you.”

He grinned. “I forgive you for breaking up with me.” Lily raised an eyebrow, but quickly corrected herself in front of him. _From what I remember,_ Lily thought, _you were the one that broke up with_ me. But she continued anyway.

“Oh, thank you, Amos! I was so worried you would never want to see my ugly face ever again!” And with this said, Lily flung herself around his neck, hugging him tight, though inside her head, she cringed.

She could feel Amos grin into her hair and kiss her on the top of the head. And then Lily remembered something he never had a chance to do while they dated.

Lily leaned back and braced herself, going in for the kill. She pressed her lips against his and clenched her eyes shut in disgust. Once she leaned back, Amos smiled at her. “Well, that was new. Last time I tried to kiss you, I believe you said you were saving it for a _special_ time.”

Lily smiled at him, happy with her brilliance. Apparently her lies _earlier_ seemed to be coming in handy now as well! “Yes, Amos. And this is a special time.” Lily leaned in again and allowed him to deepen the kiss, though she felt nothing special towards him at all. Lily pulled away and Amos, reluctantly, let her do so and speak to him. “Promise me that you won’t let James come near me again.”

“Absolutely, Lily. If he comes within a meter of you, I’ll be sure he ends up in the Hospital Wing the next day.”

Lily smiled. This was _exactly_ what she had been hoping for: an excuse for James not to talk to her again. _Ever_.

“Uh, Amos,” Lily said, “we’ve got about twenty minutes until classes start. Do you think that maybe you could walk me to my class?” She batted her eyelashes at him, smiling.

“Absolutely, Lily!” he replied energetically, hopping to his feet.

“Ok, great! I just need to stop by my dormitory real quick. I need to pick up my materials and – uh – stuff.” Lily grinned and pulled Amos up, wrapping her arm around him.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

As for Sirius’ normal school day standards, waking up nearly half an hour before class started was almost early. He leisurely stood and dressed in his everyday wear, and packed up his books for his classes.

Sirius wasn’t looking forward to anything exciting today. He had to finish his Charms essay in Potions, finish his Transfiguration homework in Charms, and still manage to catch a quick nap in their first class of the day: History of Magic.

So to start the day, Sirius trudged down a few staircases and entered Professor Binns’ classroom. Not only did he skip breakfast, which he’d never done before in his life, but he was also the first person there. This was a once in a lifetime occurrence.

Sirius dropped his bag on the floor, underneath his desk, and proceeded to lie his head down on his arm, closing his eyes.

_Ok,_ he thought, as if he were talking to another person. _First order of business; James is lying to me. Should I tell him I know, or wait until_ he _tells me?_

_Let him tell you. You don’t want him angry at you for thinking you were eavesdropping on him!_

_But I_ was _eavesdropping._

_That’s not the point here! Next question!_

 Sirius smiled at the thought of what another person would think if they knew he, Sirius Black, was having a conversation with himself. _Alright then… Now, Bella – I don’t know if she’s mad at me or not._

_Easy question! Talk to her, clear all of your problems up. If_ she’s _the reason why you’re so damn depressed, you_ definitely _need to fix this little mishap!_

_Yeah, well…_

_Yeah, well, what? You like her, correct?_

_I guess._

_No, I guess – yes, or no?_

_Yes._

_Well, get your butt in gear and go talk to her! And maybe you should consider asking her out to Hogsmeade next weekend. You can use the invisibility cloak, no one will notice! You two will have some privacy!_

_Great plan, but one problem,_ Sirius thought, miserably.

_Oh? And what would that be?_

_It’s not my invisibility cloak – it’s James’!_

_Oh, all those tiny little details! You’ll sort this whole think out by the end of the week, won’t you?_

_Maybe._

_C’mon, I want to hear an affirmative answer!_

_Yeah, sure._

_Ok, fine, that’ll work. So, what are you waiting for? Go talk to Bella!_

_You know, you’re right._

_Of course I’m right!_

_I’ll go talk to her right this minute!_

_That’s my boy!_

Sirius jerked his eyes open and stood up abruptly, causing his chair to knock over behind him in the process.

Six pairs of eyes looked up at him and the monotone voice coming from Professor Binns halted. Apparently Sirius hadn’t realized that class had already started.

“Er – sorry, Professor,” he muttered lamely, picking up his chair and sitting back down.

“Quite alright, Mr. – uh – Blake.”

Sirius laid down his head again and propped it up in between his hands.

_I’ll wait until tonight._

\---------------------------James - Before Class Started---------------------------

Miserably, James made his way up to his dormitory and shoved some books in his bag, hardly even noticing what subjects he put in. but this was the least of his worries.

For the minute he had stepped into the common room, there was a flash of red hair and James watched Lily exit hurriedly through the portrait.

He followed. He just _had_ to talk to her, whether she hated him or not. _She deserved an explanation!_

But that probably wasn’t the best time to meet up with her.

Lily had chosen that exact mooment to lock lips with Amos, her ex-boyfriend. James’ jaw dropped as he ran past the couple, shoving Amos along the way. But he didn’t care. He felt two pairs of eyes follow him as he ran. But he didn’t care. He heard running footsteps chasing him down. But he didn’t care. Nothing seemed to matter much anymore that realization had finally struck James.

So James ran back to Helen. True, he’d been there not more than ten minutes earlier, but he couldn’t face Lily now. He couldn’t let her know she’d somehow gotten to him.

_Let me in,_ James wrote quickly, glancing over his shoulder to check if anyone was coming.

**_What’s the rush?_** A small handle popped out of the wall and James wasted no time in turning it and running inside the room, dropping his bag on the floor somewhere along the way.

He curled into a ball in the corner, small and fragile, and let a lone, solemn tear fall down his cheek. He didn’t brush it away. Because he didn’t care. Not anymore.

He buried his head in his hands as if he were ashamed. Why did these things have to happen to him? He just wanted to be a normal kid! Of course, everyone wants exciting adventures like their favorite superhero or life-changing drama episodes in their life. But once you think of what it may really be like having a life so confusing, so devastating, so torturous, you might reconsider.

But what would you do if you _couldn’t_ reconsider and were stuck with the life you were landed with?

What would you do if your parents died because of you?

What would you do if other families were hurt or torn apart somehow because of you?

What would you do if you knew there was someone out there in the world watching your every move?

What would you do if you fell in love with your greatest enemy?

James glanced up, looking around the room almost as if he were expecting someone waiting for him. But there was no one.

He stood up and made his way, slowly to the vicinity of the couch. But without paying any attention to where his feet were really taking him, James fell over the glass table and onto couch, still dazed by the days’ events.

He had fallen hard. And it hurt. Bad. But there was absolutely nothing he could do to change the laws of nature.

Moaning, James pressed his face hard into a pillow, trying – _praying_ – to just fall into a deep sleep and never wake again.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Dragging Amos up the staircase, leaving him to wait a few feet from the portrait of the fat lady, Lily said the password and ran up to her dormitory, grabbing her bag and walked back down, not as quickly as before. But once she heard a soft pounding on the steps of the boys’ staircase, Lily hurried to exit the room.

_It’s James!_ she thought. _I know it is! It has to be!_

Taking her chance, Lily pushed the portrait of the fat lady aside and ran to Amos, flinging her arms around his neck. He grinned at her and wrapped his arms around her waist.

Lily knew exactly what he was going to do. And it was exactly what she wanted him to do. He leaned in to kiss her once again, the minute the portrait opened and closed again.

For a few seconds, there was a ringing silence. Lily managed to turn, glancing out of the corner of her eye at the person standing beside the portrait. Sure enough, James stood there, jaw dropped and awestruck. And then his face crumbled. This was the exact opposite of what Lily thought would happen. She knew that both Amos and James hated each other. Besides Snape, Amos was probably the top person on his hit list.

But nothing happened. That is, until, Amos was forcefully shoved away from her and they broke apart.

“Don’t worry, Lily!” Amos said, setting off down the corridor at a jog. “I’ll get him, for you!” He blew a kiss and Lily made a big show of trying to catch it.

“Oh, thank you, Amos!” Lily called back. But the minute he was out of sight, Lily rolled her eyes and walked down the hallway in the opposite direction the two boys had left.

_Come on, Lily! Wake up! You just beat James! You made him run away and_ hide _from you! Your plan worked!_

But she couldn’t help feeling shocked. James wasn’t angry at her. He wasn’t angry at Amos either.

The memory of his face continued plaguing her mind. She couldn’t get him out of her mind. It was as if he was glued there permanently. All through History of Magic, even when she tried to sleep, closing her eyes, his astonished face would pop up before her.

During Potions, Lily continued seeing his face randomly show up in her ingredient vials. But during lunch, when she had managed to rid his face from her brain, the thought of him still lingered.

Lily walked inside the Great Hall and straight to the Hufflepuff table instead of her normal spot by the Gryffindors. But instead of doing as she had planned earlier, hanging all over Amos as well as sitting in his lap while they ate, Lily delicately sat next to him without talking or even giving him a kiss on the cheek. She felt guilty for some reason, and she wouldn’t even let herself think of why that might’ve been.

But to top it all off, Breanna caught her, obviously, and quickly dragged her out to the hall.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” Breanna shrieked. “Hanging out with Amos again, are we? Lily – I thought you had more sense! He’s a player! He’ll drop you along with every other girl he’s dated! And you’ve even dated him already! You said then that you were thankful he dumped you! Now, why are you going out with him again?!?”

Lily sighed and crossed her arms over her chest, looking as if she were bored. “Why are you so worried about me social life, Breanna? He’s just a guy! And so what if I decided I wanted to go out with him again? I’m a big girl,” she said, patting Breanna’s arm, “I think I can handle myself, thank you.” And with that said, Lily gracefully mad her way back to Amos, now deciding to make a big deal out of being his new girlfriend.

And the show didn’t go unnoticed by certain others.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Breanna huffed in disgust and returned back to the Gryffindor table.

“Remus, I just want to keel over and die,” Breanna muttered, dropping down to sit next to him. “Life at Hogwarts is just so – messed up.”

Remus smiled. “No, I don’t think that’s it. Life with the Marauders, Lily, Bella, and you is messed up.”

Breanna shrugged. “Same thing. But seriously, think about it! _Look around!_ ” Breanna gestured to the four empty seats along the table. “Sirius has been acting like a zombie in all of his classes, and he doesn’t eat breakfast or lunch here anymore! Bella has done the _exact_ same thing as Sirius, James is missing and hasn’t been seen since last night, and Lily is flirting with _him_ ,” she hissed, nodding her head in the general direction of the Hufflepuff table. “The world is coming to an end!”

“Well, Peter and I are still here,” Remus supplied, hopeful.

But Breanna dismissed it with a wave of her hand. “I’m not talking about who’s _here._ I’m talking about who’s _not_ here.” She took a small drink of her pumpkin juice and set it back down on the table, talking once again. “And you want to know what bugs me most?”

“What?” he asked, knowing the best way for her to cool off is to talk about what was annoying her.

“That I don’t even know what they’re all mad about!”

Remus nodded, agreeing. _That would bug you, wouldn’t it?_

“Lily and James have been enemies since they first laid eyes on each other, and now they’re acting secretive like they’re hiding something, but they still fight worse than ever. Bella – I don’t know what’s wrong with her. It must’ve been something that Lily said to her.” Breanna took a bite of her sandwich, pausing for a moment. And then she put on a quizzical face. “Did you manage to find out what was bugging James or Sirius last night after the fight in the Common Room? Did either of them tell you what happened?”

_James has spent a good portion of his winter with Lily, her parents were murdered, James is scared that Sirius wouldn’t be able to keep a secret, and they’re fighting which they’ve never done before,_ Remus thought, ticking the number of things off on his fingers. _But what happened in the common room?_ Remus shrugged, turning back to Breanna.

“Well?”

“Nope, don’t know.”

Her face fell. “You don’t know _anything_?”

“Actually…”

“Oh, Remus, you _do_ know something, don’t you?” she asked, eagerly, pulling on his arm.

“Yes – but no.”

“Huh? No what?” she asked.

“Yes, I know something, no, I can’t tell you.”

Remus turned so he was facing Breanna directly in the eyes and held her hands. “Look, Breanna, James told me something that happened, and told me to promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone. And, as you already know, friends are more important to me than anything else. And if I lose their trust, then we wouldn’t be that good of friends anymore.”

“But – _Remus_! Why can’t you tell me? I’m your friend! You don’t want to get me mad, do you?” Breanna said.

“Ah, see, now there you’re wrong,” he smiled, turning back to his plate. “I don’t want to lose my friends’ _trust_ – I could care less about getting my friends mad at me!”

Breanna’s jaw dropped and she crossed her arms over her chest just as Lily had done before.

“Breanna,” he said after a few seconds, “I was joking.”

She turned her back on him, flinging her hair in his face. She was glad to hear him sputter as he leaned back, away from her hair. “Look, Breanna, I _do_ care if my friends get angry at me! I was joking! It was pretend!”

“Sure it was.”

Remus was running out of ideas. “Look, I’m sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

Breanna smiled and turned back to face him. “Remus, you realize I was joking, didn’t you?”

Remus just shook his head and chuckled. “What am I going to do with you?” He stood up and leaned down a little. “Look, I’m going to find Sirius or James or _somebody_ who can tell me what this whole mess from last night is all about.”

“Alright,” Breanna said, standing up as well. She pecked him on the cheek and walked away calling over her shoulder. “I’ll see you in Charms! Good luck!”

Remus nodded and waved, and slipping his hands back in his pockets. And the minute she left, he began blushing profusely.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

Sirius looked antsy in his spot. He had already packed his books fifteen minutes before the bell rang and looked as if he were counting down the minutes until class ended.

“Hey, Sirius,” Remus muttered, leaning over. “What happened last night?”

“Remus, you can ask all you want, but you won’t get it from me,” Sirius whispered back with a smug look on his face. All afternoon, he had been trying to spring the question on Sirius, hoping that once Sirius let down his guard a bit during class, he might slip to Remus what had happened the night before. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have an appointment…” Sirius trailed off as the class exited, keeping his eyes on his target.

Remus rolled his eyes and packed his bags. He spotted Breanna walking between the desks to the back of the room, meeting up with Remus. “So?” she asked, eagerly. “What’d you find out? Anything?”

Remus shook his head and leaned back in his chair, yawning. “Diddly-squat. He wouldn’t budge! You know, Sirius, he can be a stubborn little donkey when he wants to!”

Breanna sighed and fell into the chair next to him, putting her elbow on the desk and laying her head down on her hand. “So what exactly are we supposed to do now?”

Remus shrugged. “I don’t know about you, but I’m tired. Either I’m going to sleep, or I’m going to kick your butt in chess.”

Breanna grinned. “Well, in that case, if you’re tired, then I think I can beat you in chess. You won’t be thinking very clearly then and - ”

“Miss Roysen, Mr. Lupin, you both do realize that class has ended, do you not?”

Remus and Breanna snapped their heads up. “Oh. ‘Course, Professor McGonnagol, sorry. We’re leaving now,” Breanna said, pulling Remus along behind her.

As the door closed, Professor McGonnagol smiled, shuffling through exam papers. _Teenagers in love… Who’d think it would be those two?_

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

_Ok, there she is._

_You’re going to talk to Bella, right?_

_Yes, sir,_ Sirius thought, smiling to himself.

_Good answer!_

Sirius continued dodging crowds of students, yet still managing to keep an eye out for Bella at the same time. Once or twice, he thought he’d lost her, but just as soon as she was out of his sight, she’d be back in view.

The group in which Sirius was hidden in began to turn to the left, heading towards the Great Hall for an early dinner. But Bella didn’t go there. As a matter of fact, she headed towards an empty hallway Sirius knew too well. And she was going exactly where Sirius went nearly every night.

Bella reached her hand and tickled the pear she stood before. There came soft giggling and the portrait swung open, inviting her inside and that’s what she did.

Sirius crept up to the picture once she entered. He didn’t want to just pop up in front of her and scare her; he wanted to make this seem special somehow. _But how…_

An idea clicked in Sirius’ head and he tickled the pear softly, trying to make as little noise as he could, stepping inside, and blending in with the shadows while Bella went to sit at a separate four-sided table in front of the fire with her back facing towards Sirius. _Perfect_ , he thought.

Several house elves swarmed around Bella the second she sat down in her chair.

“What is you liking, Miss Bella? Is you liking Narsy to get you dinner?” an anxious elf squeaked, grinning from ear to ear.

“Is you wanting desert after, Miss Bella?” another one piped up.

Bella smiled at their antics. “Yes, I would love both, thank you.”

The house elves scurried away, but not before Sirius caught up with one of them and whispered something in his ear.

The elf smiled and bowed quickly. “Yes, sir, right away!”

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella enjoyed coming down to the kitchens every now and then. Especially when she didn’t want to be with anyone else. Sure, the elves bugged her a bit, but it was rather cute sometimes, the way that they acted.

Depressed, Bella put her face in her hands and breathed deeply. And then she heard the clanging of dishes scrape against each other. Looking up, she noticed the elves were setting out the plates and glasses in front of her. But they were also setting up another spot on the opposite side of the table.

“Oh, no, I’m not – er – Harsy? No, Narsy! I’m not eating with anyone else! It’s just me,” she said to the elf across the table from her, trying to get his attention.

After he finished setting the table, he leaped to the floor gracefully and bowed to Bella.

“Wait – Narsy! Get back here!” Bella turned in her chair, expecting to see Narsy bustling around, but instead she saw another person. It was Sirius.

He held out his right hand to Bella, giving her a red rose. After taking a deep breath, he spoke. “A beautiful rose, for a beautiful lady.”

Bella reached out her hand to touch the rose in his hand. And as her fingertips brushed the soft petals, she shivered and pulled her hand back, looking into the face of its holder.

“Here, Bella,” he said, extending his hand farther. “It’s for you.” Sirius started to sweat as he stood, unmoving.

She looked down at her hands, clasped together in her lap. Slowly, her eyes traveled upward once again. Then she stood, beginning to walk past him “Sirius, I don’t think - ”

He took a step forward. “No, Bella, sit down. I need to say something to you. Please?” he added hopefully. She looked into his eyes. And sat back down, silently.

Sirius smiled nervously and laid the rose down in a small, glass vase in the center of the table. “Bella,” he started, causing her to look up at him. “I – I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to jump down your throat, I didn’t really mean all that I said. I didn’t - ”

“Sirius, you’re not the one who should be apologizing.”

He raised an eyebrow. “What? But I - ”

“Sirius! Let me talk.” Neither said a word for a minute. “Look, I should’ve been able to hide the picture better! It’s my fault! You had every right to be mad at me last night!”

“But, Bella, I wasn’t really - ”

“Let me talk.” Bella defiantly now locked gazes with Sirius. “I tried keeping a picture from Lily, and she found it. I should’ve been safer and put somewhere where I could’ve locked it up or something!” she said, now waving her arms around in the air as she spoke. “You were right when you said, ‘If I can’t trust you with such a small secret as not telling Lily that we’re friends, what _can_ I trust you with now?’ And I have been thinking. You probably can’t trust me with anything anymore and I don’t think you want to hang out with someone who you can’t trust - ”

“Bella, you’re talking like a madwoman!”

“ – And I completely understand if you’d never want to talk to me ever again.”

“Bella! It’s _my_ fault! I shouldn’t have said all of that! I trust you, honest! It was a small mistake! Everyone makes mistakes! Now, you said Lily found it? Then that means she was snooping around in your things without having permission! You didn’t know she would – oh, Bella!” Sirius stopped in mid sentence as small bead-like tear drops slid down Bella’s cheek. He immediately pulled his napkin off of the table and ran around to the other side of the table. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry!” He handed her the napkin and she lightly dabbed her eyes. But as soon as the old tears disappeared, fresh ones covered the tracks of old tears. Sirius, feeling slightly helpless, wrapped his arms around her small figure, holding her tight and helping her stand up. Slowly, he started to rock her back and forth in his embrace as she sobbed onto his shirt. He knew that he was supposed to be feeling miserable at the moment, but he still couldn’t help but think of how lucky he was to have the most beautiful girl in his arms at that very minute. His emotions started to run haywire and his face heated up a few notches.

“Bella, you don’t have any reason to cry. It’s my fault. Maybe I shouldn’t have even made that picture,” he said, resignedly.

“No!” Bella’s head snapped up, looking in his dark eyes now. “I – I mean, I really like your drawings. And that was a very pretty picture of us. You didn’t even have any other reference to draw from. It was all from your mind.”

Sirius smiled at her. “Glad you liked it. And – uh - ” Sirius looked away as his face fell a bit, “I didn’t really mean to throw the picture in the fire. I was confused.”

It was now Bella’s turn to smile at him. “I managed to save part of it. The picture doesn’t move anymore and, uh, you sorta got burnt off.”

Sirius chuckled at the way she said that. Relaxing, Bella laid her head back down on his chest, causing his heart to run twice as fast as normal. He panicked. What if she could hear? What would she think?

“Er, Bella?” he asked tentatively, causing her to look up again. Sirius relaxed and his heart rate slowed. _Thank you_. “I was wondering – if, uh, you would like to – but you don’t have to, of course – unless you wanted to go, you know, but - ”

“Sirius,” Bella chuckled, laying her head back down and they swayed back and forth, beginning to turn in a circle. “Is there a point to this?”

“Bella,” Sirius started once again, standing back, taking another very deep breath again. “Would you like to go to Hogsmeade with me?”

“Hogsmeade? This weekend?” she asked, eyes sparkling as she spoke.

“Yeah, sure, why not? This weekend. I can buy you a few butterbeers while we’re there. You know, to make up for what a loser I was last night.”

“Sirius,” Bella said, her voice turning stern. “It’s not your fault.”

“And it’s not yours either.”

Both didn’t speak for quite sometime. “Let’s blame it on Lily,” Bella said suddenly.

“Er – I don’t think we should. That wouldn’t be very decent for us to do.” But in the back of his mind, what he thought of was how much pressure she must already have on her shoulders what with everything that had happened over winter break.

“Since when have you cared about decency?” Bella asked, chuckling. “Plus, she’s hiding something from me just like James, remember?”

“Bella, let’s just blame this on no one. I’ll buy you a butterbeer, and you can buy me one, ok? We’ll be even.” Both smiled and began to sway in a circle. Sirius backed up a minute. “Hold on, I’ll be back in – in two seconds, alright?”

He darted out of the room where several house elves worked washing dishes and giggling. “Er – Narsy? Where are you?”

A small house elf ran up to Sirius. “Is you finished talking to Miss Bella? You is waiting for your food now? Narsy is very sorry, Sirius Black! But you is saying Narsy is to wait for you to finish talking with Miss Bella! Oh, dear!” The house elf hustled to the other side of the room and picked up a silver platter and walking to the room where the four-sided table was.

“Wait, whoa, hold your pillows, buddy! I actually have another favor to ask of you.” Sirius leaned down whispering something in his overly large bat-like ears. After finishing, he stood up straight again. “Can you do that for me?”

“Yes, Mr. Black! I is happy to help!” And he scurried away.

Sirius returned back to the other room where Bella stood, waiting. “What were you doing?” she asked, curious.

“Wait a minute, hold on.” Sirius, trying to relax his breathing at the sight of the goddess only feet before him. Sure, her hair was falling out of place, there were tear stains running down her face, she wore the normal dress of Hogwarts students, robe and all, but to Sirius, she never looked more beautiful.

And then, soft, slow music began to play in the background. Bella looked around, trying to find the source of this sound, but they were the only two in the room. Sirius walked forward, holding out his hand. “Bella, would you care to dance with me?”

Bella grinned. She took his hand. He pulled her out to the center of the room and she draped her arms around his neck as he placed his on her waist. Slowly, just like before, they made their way around in a circle. Bella felt as if she were in a large, but empty ballroom. She felt like a princess now, even when she had her school uniform on.

“So, Sirius,” she said, smiling more than she had in the past week, “where are you coming up with all of these ideas? The flower, the music, everything. That’s so nice of you!”

“Well,” he said, lowering his voice to a whisper, “Narsy’s been giving me some help. I told him to set up the table for two so I could eat with you. And I asked him to get me a rose so I could give it to you. And just now I asked him to play some music we could dance to since we were already dancing anyway!”

Both chuckled and then it fell silent. But it wasn’t an uncomfortable silence. They were perfectly happy, but didn’t necessarily have to talk about anything to be enjoying the other’s company. Just being with each other was enjoying enough.

And together, they danced the night away, forgetting about dinner completely.

**Author's Note: Major fluff, eh? :D Gotta love it... When I went back and re-read this story from start to end (it's already finished on another website for those that didn't already know that) I kind-of thought the fluff wasn't very great... I was pretty much cringing at every bit of it when I re-read it. And here's your warning: the next few chapters aren't my best, but after them, it IS my best (at least I like to think that!), so don't let any bad chapters between now and then make you not want to read the story!**

**Next chapter is all Lily/James... Another warning: because this story was started before OotP and HBP, some of the information brought up in the next chapter won't fit in with the books... It fit for the plot of the story at the time, but now, I guess, it's AU.**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	11. A New Day Has Come

**Author's Note: Nothing new... Just enjoy!**

 

**Chapter Eleven: A New Day Has Come**

 

_I am such an idiot. I can’t believe I just ran away like that._

James had been pacing around the room for nearly the whole day, pulling his hair out. His bag full of books lay untouched in the middle of the room. He hadn’t used this time to catch up on any last minute reading or homework; it was spent all on thinking about that special someone.

It was most likely past dinner now, but James hadn’t looked at his watch for hours and hours now. He didn’t need to go to lunch or dinner at all today because it seemed almost as if he had too much food in him to last an eternity. James felt as if he needed to get rid of some of the excess food by being hurling it then and there. But he didn’t.

He still wouldn’t let his eyes show the truth that was clearly there right in front of him. Lily was going out with Amos Diggory now. She didn’t care for him, James Potter, at all. She never had. That was the clear truth. Helen had tried several times to capture his attention during James’ long stay in the room as well, though nothing seemed to work much.

“She’s gone, she’ll never look at you again, Potter. Everything she pretended over winter break – it’s all a lie. It was fake. That’s all it even started as. You were pretending, too, Prongs. You’re just a bit confused now,” James spoke, trying to persuade himself more than anything else.

But as much as he tried, he couldn’t deny the fact that James Harold Potter, the star chaser, Quidditch captain of the Gryffindor house team, infamous Marauder, teenage heartthrob, and all around good-guy, had fallen for _the_ Lillian Amy Evans.

And there wasn’t anything he could do about it.

James stopped in front of the wall he was pacing beside. There was writing all over it. James started to feel guilty. Helen had been trying to talk to him all day long without any success. But that might’ve also been because he’d been purposefully ignoring her. He didn’t feel like talking to anyone else. James just hated talking to people whenever he was sad. It was as if nobody ever said the right thing when trying to console another. Why couldn’t people just keep their mouth shut?

Then again, Helen had been trying so hard to catch his attention. She wouldn’t give up. So James gave in.

**_James, darling, what’s wrong dear? Are you going to talk to me now? Come on, sweetie, talk to me._ **

_Don’t call me darling. Or sweetie._

**_Oh. I’m sorry, James._ **

****

James blew air out of the corner of his mouth, pushing away his messy hair that had fallen in front of his eyes.

_It’s fine._

**_Will you tell me what’s wrong?_ **

****

_You don’t even want to know._

**_Sure I do! Come on, how bad can it be?_ **

****

James let out a hollow, empty laugh.

_Pretty bad._

**_James, I know –_ **

****

James waited. She didn’t finish her sentence. _Uh, Helen?_

**_Uh-oh…_ **

****

_What? What’s uh-oh?_

**_James – brace yourself._ **

****

_Brace myself for what? Helen, what is –_

But James never had a chance to say what he wanted. He heard a soft click and a doorway was made next to where James stood.

And somebody was standing in it.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Finally, _Lily thought, grateful that the day was over._ I don’t think I could stand it another second with Amos! He drives me up the wall!

After dinner had finished that night, Amos had insisted on bringing Lily back up to Gryffindor tower. Thought no matter how much she tried to persuade him to change his thoughts, he won anyway. So Lily walked _very_ quickly to her house common room. The minute she saw the fat lady in sight, however, Lily took off running with a faint call of, “See you tomorrow,” from over her shoulder.

There weren’t many older students in the common room. She would have expected that the fifth years and the seventh years would be at every available table, cramming their brains with knowledge for their OWL’s or their NEWT’s. But as a matter of a fact, they weren’t fifth years or seventh years. They were all pesky first years and a few second or third years scattered here and there. No one Lily knew personally.

She walked over to the couch with four first years, squished together side by side and two other first years opposite them, kneeling in front of the small table. None of them seemed to be doing any homework whatsoever. They were just enjoying one another’s company in front of the hearth.

“Excuse me,” Lily cut into the middle of their conversation. “I need you all to move.”

“Well, excuse _us_ ,” one of the three girls with long raven hair to her back retaliated, “but I believe we were here first.”

“Yes, I can see that,” Lily said, not losing her composure, “but I happen to be a _bit_ older than you and a prefect as well.”

“So?” the same, annoying little girl asked.

“So, that means you have to move.”

“Why?”

“I have to study. And as you six are all clearly demonstrating that you are not using this area to study or finish homework, and then I suggest you move before I get ugly.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll take points off and assign detentions.”

“You wouldn’t take points off of your own house!” The boy sitting across from her said defiantly.

“Oh, wouldn’t I? Well maybe we’ll just have to find out, then, shall we?”

“We were just talking!” a small, blonde-haired, pig-tailed girl cut in. “And I don’t see a sign here anywhere that says this is _your_ couch.”

Lily waved her wand and a white sign, hung by a small string, dangled off of one of the armrests on the couch that read, “This couch is currently property of Lily Evans.”

Lily smiled at the simplicity of it all. “I do.”

Three of the first years, which had not yet spoken to Lily, leaned over to read the sign. The two boys scoffed and laughed at it while the third, a petite girl, looked as if she were scared for fear of actually breaking a rule.

“Guys,” she piped up in her small, mouse-like voice, “I think we should move. After all, it does say it belongs to her tonight.”

Lily smiled. “Thank you, uh – what was your name?”

“It’s Kelsey,” she said, smiling.

“Thank you, Kelsey. Now, if _everyone_ would be so kind as to follow Kelsey and leave my eyesight now, I might not dock any points from our house. Understood?”

The group of first years stood and glared at Lily, also shooting a few scowls at the girl named Kelsey, and left the vicinity, instead moving to another table where one other boy was sitting, writing a long essay.

Loudly, Lily dropped her book bag on the table. Then she held her arms out, straight to the side and fell backwards, sprawled, more or less, the long way on the couch.

_I can’t believe I still have homework to do now,_ Lily thought, miserably opening up her bag. _My Astronomy essay is due tomorrow and I have a forty-two inch essay in Potions to hand in by the end of the week. Even Professor McGonnagol wouldn’t assign forty-two inches of homework - especially when it was just given today._

Lily flicked through the pages of _Magical Drafts and Potions: Sixth Edition_. There was a loud squealing noise across the room. Lily looked up. The mousy girl, Kelsey, was laughing and rolling around on the ground at a joke someone must’ve told.

Rolling her eyes, Lily went back to reading the chapter about illegal love potions. Her eyes continued re-reading the same sentence over and over. She couldn’t focus. There was too much commotion in the room.

Groaning, she packed her backs back up and stood up, leaving the common room with a soft, “Hey! You kicked us off the couch for nothing!”

Lily rolled her eyes, marching down the empty corridor with her book bag slung over her back.

_Where to now? I can’t exactly get_ into _the library at this time of day, can I?_

Lily passed several empty classrooms until she gave in, about to turn to go back to the noisy common room. But there, a few paces in front of her, was Helen – her wall.

_That’s it!_ Lily thought. _I’ll go talk to Helen and make up with her. Now that I think about it, I guess I_ was _a bit harsh on her earlier._

Lily walked up to the wall and began writing. _Helen, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at you earlier._

**_Little Lily? What are you doing here?_ **

****

Lily chuckled. _Ok, Helen, I know what I did was very unexpected and uncalled for, but you didn’t expect me to never come back, did you?_

**_Oh, no, I didn’t think that at all! I’m just shocked that you came back so – quickly!_ **

****

Lily smiled. _I couldn’t be mad at you for so long! And I was never even that mad at you in the first place! I just felt at the time that I had to take all of my anger out on someone else rather than bottle it up inside. So, can I come inside?_

**_Ok, then._** Almost reluctantly, a small doorknob appeared by Lily’s feet, poking through the wall. Lily bent down and turned it, then stood back up.

And somebody was standing near the entrance.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“ _James?_ ”

Both teenagers stared avidly at the other.

“What are you doing here?” James asked, taking a small step forward, almost as if to check and see if she were actually there in flesh and bones.

“Well, why else would I come here? This is _my_ wall! I should be asking you – what are _you_ doing here?” Carefully, Lily took a step backwards.

“Well, I – uh – I was just - ” James began flailing his arms around, looking for an excuse until he finally shouted, “I come here! And you?”

“I come here too! Helen’s my friend!”

“Well, she’s mine too!”

Both continued eyeing the other hesitantly. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that James ruffled his hair and sighed, plopping onto the couch, relaxing. “I can see we won’t get very far with _this_ conversation. Come in. Have a seat.”

Tentatively, Lily stepped inside, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. It felt very awkward being invited to enter a room she also called her own. Lily glanced around, expecting everything to have changed, but the couch, the chair, and the bed all looked the same. Although, one thing had changed. Helen, who normally wrote paragraphs of words at a time, now wrote nothing.

Neither of the teenagers spoke until James noticed Lily’s book bag. “So, did you come here to work on homework?”

“Er – yeah, I did.” They shot each other a furtive glance and chuckled nervously. It was odd sitting next to your enemy and not insulting the other. “Uh, maybe I should just go back to my dormitory, now.”

“Sure, alright.” James was currently fighting a hard, mental battle with himself. _What do I do??? Let her go? Make her stay? Come on, James; make up your mind once and for all!_

He let his gut take over. James stood up in front of the couch.

“Wait, Lily! I have something I need to tell you.”

Lily turned, standing just in front of the closed doorway. “Yes?”

James laughed a shallow laugh. “You might want to sit down for this.”

Lily’s eyebrows creased, but she sat anyway. “What’s wrong?”

James sat next to her, mesmerized by her wide, concerned eyes. She looked genuinely worried at what he was about to say. This was something completely new for him. His stomach flopped.

James paced back and forth a few paces in front of Lily and the coffee table. “Now, Lily, I want you to know, before I even _say_ anything, that I didn’t mean to. I didn’t think he’d do anything and it’s entirely my fault. I just didn’t have enough courage to tell you earlier. I’m sorry, Lily, I really - ”

“James!” she cut in. “I don’t exactly have all day, you know.” _Now that’s the Lily I know,_ James thought, miserably. “Hurry up.”

Taking his final breath, James blurted his secret out;

“I’m Gryffindor’s heir.”

James’ head drooped in front of him. Lily stared at him and did what he had expected her to do least; she threw back her head and laughed.

“What?” James looked up, confused, and sank into the couch. “What’s so funny?”

Lily choked a few giggles away, speaking clearly. “It’s just that you made such a big deal out of something that I don’t even _care_ about!” She laughed a bit louder now. “Look, James, I have _got_ to go, really. Bella and Breanna will be wondering where I’ve gone! I just don’t - ”

She made a move to stand, but James grabbed her hand and pulled her back down. His quick reflexes from Quidditch training paid off.

“Lily, you don’t understand! Listen to me – hear me out!”

Lily looked down at James’ grip on her hand; he didn’t move his hand. Until, of course, he glanced down as well, quickly pulling his hand away, flushing an odd shade of red. _Why did I ever do to be cursed with this annoying habit of blushing?_ “Sorry,” he mumbled, wringing his hands.

Lily cradled her own as well. Though it felt a lot colder than before. “Explain,” she said, crossing her arms.

James breathed out a sigh of relief, thankful that she was staying. “Alright, but I need you to promise me that you won’t talk to anyone about this. Sirius and Remus and Peter don’t even know, though at points I think they would’ve questioned some things that happen to us. Dumbledore knows and my parents – _knew_ – but other than that, no one. I don’t want you telling everyone. Promise?”

“Alright,” she said, holding back giggles.

“What is funny _now_?” James asked, getting angered.

“Why is it all hush-hush? It’s so stupid to keep quiet! I just think you’re making a much bigger deal out of all of this than you should be!”

“Lily, if you’d just _listen_ to me for a minute, you might find out why!”

They glared at each other. It was a contest. James won.

“Fine,” Lily mumbled, turning away again. “Talk.”

“Lily,” he started. His tone became much softer. “Dumbledore – as well as my parents – told me not to tell anyone that I’m heir of Godric Gryffindor. I think they thought that if I didn’t tell anyone, Voldemort wouldn’t find out. But – he did.”

“Voldemort? What does he have to do with this?” She seemed to look a lot more interested now.

“You remember when we went to Diagon Alley for ice cream? Just before we, uh…” James glanced at Lily to see how she would react to him talking about this sensitive topic. Tears welded in her eyes, but he _had_ to continue. “Before we got back to your house?” he finished.

“Yes, I remember.”

“And I told you that he was attacking all people from Gryffindor?”

“Yes.”

“He’s not. Well, he is – but it’s after one person.” He pointed at himself. “Me.”

Lily rolled her eyes, trying to ignore the overwhelming feeling of grief. “So Voldemort’s after _you_ just because you’re the heir of Gryffindor?” she asked, disbelievingly.

“Yes and no. He’s coming after me ‘cause I’m the heir of Gryffindor, but not just because of that.” He was talking much faster and much more confident now that he had spilt the bigger part of his secret. “Lily, there was a prophecy hundreds and thousands of years ago. It said that the heir of Gryffindor would destroy the heir of Slytherin. I am the heir of Gryffindor – Voldemort is the heir of Slytherin. For centuries, the descendents have fought each other. Now there’s only one left of each – Lord Voldemort and I.”

Lily gazed at him. “So this is all over who kills who first?”

“You could say that,” James shrugged.

“But why do you have to kill each other? Why can’t we all live together in ‘harmony’?” she asked, sarcastically.

“Since the beginning of time, Slytherin descendants have been trying to control the world; make people bow down to them. The only person who can rid the world of evil is the Gryffindor descendant. And to do that, they – or rather, I – must kill the Slytherin descendent – also known as Lord Voldemort.”

Lily stared at him in awe, earning a new respect for him. “And when did you find all of this out? You can’t possibly have known this your whole life.”

“I actually found out a year or so before school started. They told me about myself, really, and they also told me one other thing.” James swallowed. Was it really all that necessary to tell Lily this detail? It didn’t matter much. But James threw it in anyway, even if he wasn’t sure why. “My parents told me that each descendant has their own, unique power that none others have. Though no one comes straight out and says what it is. You have to figure it out yourself. My grandfather could do wand less magic for charms only. And my mother – she was Gryffindor’s heir – had a better memory than many others did. She could memorize things left and right. And in the past few days, I’ve only realized what it is that I can do.”

Lily leaned in, curious. “What can you do?”

“I’m, in a way, like a diviner, though not exactly. I can sense when danger is near.” Lily raised an eyebrow, partially confused. James continued. “Do you remember that night after we had the big food fight? And we were outside on the swingset?”

Lily chuckled. “Yeah, I remember – my dad was _really_ angry when he saw what we did to the kitchen.”

James laughed along for a few seconds until he regained his train of thought. “Do you remember when I said it didn’t feel right?”

“Ah, I get it now.” Lily nodded. But as soon as she seemed to have grasped why James was making a big deal out of it all, she lifted an eyebrow. “So how do I play into this all?”

This was the hard part.

“Lily, Voldemort’s trying to kill me.”

“I _know_ that,” she interrupted, rolling her eyes.

“I wasn’t finished,” he said patiently, his stern look not wavering on her face. He continued once she seemed to have relaxed again. “In my third year, Lord Voldemort killed my parents – and tried to kill me. But he didn’t – I escaped. It was merely luck that saved me. Luck has it that I happened to go downstairs seconds before _he_ came. Luck that my broom happened to be there as well. And pure bravery at my father’s expense that he distracted Voldemort by sending him in the opposite direction that I was in. It cost him his life. If he hadn’t have done that, then Voldemort would have killed us all.”

Lily nodded, not speaking, but letting James continue. “Ever since then, his target hasn’t been for me; he’s now going after people I care most about. He killed my parents as a start, obviously. A while after I befriended Remus, Voldemort killed his father leaving only his mother and him behind, seeing as he’s an only child. And two years ago, he killed Sirius’ twin.”

“What?” Lily exclaimed, shocked. “Sirius had a twin? Were they magical?”

“No, she wasn’t a witch. Atria Black.” James’ face seemed to grow distant for a second or two. “She was just like my sister; another one of my best friends. But she and I were never as close as Sirius and her ever were. Nearly inseparable. He would write her all the time during the school year – I remember that, ‘cause he hardly ever even wrote his parents! Every summer between school years, I would either spend most of my time there or she and Sirius would come to my house.” James smiled to himself. “One time we played a prank on their next door neighbors. They had rashes for a week afterwards. Atria loved to play pranks with us. She was nearly the spittin’ image of Sirius too: in personality and looks both. But, of course, the night that their parents had been out and Atria and Sirius were left home alone, Voldemort chose then to attack.”

Lily gasped, unaware of James’ teary-eyed look. “What happened?”

“Voldemort came and killed Atria. I never saw Sirius that subdued ever before in my entire life.” That was all he said.

“How did Sirius escape?” she asked, pressing for more details.

“He didn’t.”

“What?” Lily was confused again.

James breathed out a shuddering sigh. “Voldemort wants me to suffer. Though he’s not going after people I care about most, exactly; he attacks whom _they_ care about the most. He attacks their family.”

“I still don’t understand,” Lily said slowly. “Why doesn’t he just attack the people _you_ care about?”

“Because he knows that I care about my friends and their wellbeing very deeply. So if he hurts them, then I feel sorry as well as guilty. And he knows this. So he left Sirius after he killed Atria. Remus and his father were home alone and Voldemort killed his father, but not Remus.

“And this fact I just now realized as well as my ‘new power.’ At first I thought Voldemort was trying to attack my friends and never managed to because of some unknown reason, but after this past week I realized what his real plan was. And trying to make me feel guilty and sorry, he thought I would give up and let him kill me: end the line of Gryffindor descendants. But so far I haven’t given up. Not yet, at least.”

Lily nodded. And then a light bulb clicked on in her face. “I understand! Voldemort thought I was your girlfriend, right?”

“Yes…”

He let Lily figure the rest out.

She continually mumbled to herself for several minutes until one point. “And that other time in the kitchen – you said you felt some strange feeling – Christmas day, right?”

“Right.”

“And – and you - ” a look of stunned gratitude fell on her face. “You took me to Diagon Alley. You – you were trying to save me.”

James shrugged. “All in a days’ work, ma’am,” he said, pretending to bow a hat on his head.

And then, unexpectedly, Lily reached over and hugged him. He drew her close, taking in the strawberry smelling hair and the way she seemed to fit perfectly inside his arms. 

Lily smiled, backing away. He definitely knew how to lighten the mood. Although right now she needed to get back on track once again and dampen it. “At the time, you thought Voldemort was trying to attack your friends which you thought always failed. And you took me to Diagon Alley to save me – your _enemy_. Instead my parents died.”

James cringed. “Lily, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for this whole Voldemort situation to get dragged into a prank that you were trying to pull on me. I only wanted to get my broom back and - ” James stopped speaking. Lily’s eyes looked as if she were gazing out of a window that wasn’t there. But her face didn’t look as if she were thinking. It looked as if she were being tortured or something along those lines.

“Lily? Lily, what are you doing?”

Lily shook from her reverie, composing herself. “I – oh – sorry. I was just – I have to go, James.” She stood and walked swiftly over to the wall.

“Lily!” he shouted in a stern tone. He wasn’t going to leave this matter unsettled.

She spun on her heel. “What do you want now, James?” she asked, tiresome.

“What is it, Lily? You were thinking something and I want to know what it is. I can help you. Trust me.”

Lily reached up to her locks of crimson hair, tucking them behind her ears. She nodded, stepping back to the couch tentatively. But the minute she sat next to James once again, she broke down into sobs, shoulders shaking. And now, much more confident than before, James moved over, encircling her once again in his embrace.

“There, there, Lily. Cry everything out,” he soothed. Lily turned her head so that she cried straight onto James’ shoulder. He didn’t mind that his shirt would smell of dry, salty tears later on. Lily needed someone to talk to. Or, in this case, someone to cry on.

“Now,” he finally said once the tears had subsided, “What is it, Lily? What’s wrong?”

She took deep, shuddering breaths, trying to calm herself down. “I – oh, James! It’s my entire fault! You can’t be blamed for this! _I_ killed my parents!”

James’ eyebrows rose amusedly. “You killed – Lily, you’re making things up.” He chuckled softly. “It wasn’t your fault. I should be to blame.”

Lily shook her head. “It was _me_ , James! I lured you to my house! I pulled that prank! It was my fault we even had to play pretend! And because you came, Voldemort thought I was your girlfriend – therefore that makes me at fault here! _I killed my parents!_ ”

James searched Lily’s face. Did she really believe this nonsense she was speaking? She was obviously delusional. Worried, James grabbed her shoulders and shook her slightly with every syllable he spoke. “You – did – not – kill – your – parents.”

She shrugged out of his grip and curled up in a ball on the other end of the couch.

“Lily! Listen to me!”

“No! James – _you_ listen to _me!_ ” she shrieked.

Shocked, he waited patiently for her to speak.

After a few moments of heavy breathing, Lily sat up and talked. “James, it was my fault that my parents were killed. _I_ take the blame for it! I should’ve known better than prank you causing you to come to my house. I should’ve thought about it! But I didn’t and - ”

“Lily, it’s not your - ”

“ _James!_ I told you to listen to me!” Lily yelled over his voice. “Thank you. Now, it _is_ my fault and there’s nothing you can do to make me change my mind.”

James shook his head at her. She just didn’t understand. He was to blame! It wasn’t her fault at all, and here she was trying to put the pressure of her parents’ death on herself! _What a unique girl…_

“And even if we ever retold this story to some other person,” Lily continued, “they would think it were my fault as well! Even _Petunia_ thinks - ”

“Hold on,” James interrupted again, though much fiercer this time, ready to override any of her yells. “Is this all about what _Petunia_ thinks? She’s got you tagged for whom to blame, doesn’t she? Why that little - ”

“James, don’t insult my sister! Even if you don’t like her – she’s family! And I won’t have her being talked about behind her back!”

“Lily, you do the same exact thing to her, don’t you?” James asked.

“Maybe,” Lily muttered, burying her face in a pillow on the couch.

“Well I bet she insults you twice as much as you do to her.” He wasn’t trying to make her feel bad by saying that Petunia insulted her, but she had to understand that her sister was _not_ as good as Lily thought. “I understand you two are family, but she _can’t_ go around saying that you killed her parents! _Because you didn’t kill them!_ ”

Lily didn’t move. Her face was buried in the small pillow and she was curled up in a small ball, acting as if she didn’t hear James. But as she tilted her head a bit to the right, James’ face came into view.

She smiled and wiped the remaining tears away.

“Thank you,” she whispered, sitting up.

James cracked a small smile. Instead of saying, “For what?” like he had twice before, James said, “You’re welcome.”

Lily molded into James for the third time that night, holding each other close. James was ecstatic. Maybe she really did care for him in the slightest.

And just as he ended this thought, they leaned back, away from the other. “Lily, I think we have to tell your friends.”

Lily nodded. “James,” she spoke nervously, “Will you come with me?”

“Come with – to where?” he asked.

“To talk to Bella and Breanna. I don’t want to tell them alone. Will you come with?”

James smiled at her kindly. “I’d love to come with.”

Holding out her hand, Lily spoke once again. “Friends?”

James grinned at her. _Well, it’s a start._ “Friends,” he confirmed, taking her small hand in his and shaking it.

“And we can tell your friends tonight, too. We’ll have a big meeting down in the common room!” Lily spoke very excitedly.

James cringed a bit when she talked of telling his friends. “Lily, there’s one more thing I have to tell you,” he said as Lily wrote, _Can you let us out, Helen?_

**_Sure._ **

The door opened. “What is it, James?”

“Uh… Now we just became friends and all – I don’t want you to get mad at me.”

“James, what’d you do?” she asked, almost as if she were expecting something like this. She stopped and put her hands on her hips, facing James.

He gave her a guilty, full-fledged grin. “Remus kind-of already knows.”

Lily rolled her eyes and kept walking. “So you told him after I said for you not to tell anyone?”

James caught up to her stride. “He found out. I didn’t tell him, but he knew something was up and he confronted me!”

Lily shrugged. “Ok.”

James stopped walking for a second and raised an eyebrow, questionable. “Ok?”

“Yeah,” Lily said, waiting for James to catch up once again. “I don’t care.”

“You – you don’t? I thought you would be really mad at me and everything! You don’t care?” he repeated, stunned.

“I knew you would’ve told someone anyway. I mean, you and all of your friends are really close! You couldn’t exactly keep a secret from them for that long, could you? I actually thought you might’ve told Sirius already.”

“Sirius – oh, crap. What’s he gonna do to me? He’s going to murder me! I told Remus and not him. He’s – ugh…” James began to moan, but the two teenagers continued walking down the hallway.

“James, just tell him what you told me. That Remus confronted you. And then say that I didn’t want you telling anyone either. Alright?”

James shrugged. “It’s worth a shot.”

Both walked in silence until they reached the fat lady.

“Jobberknoll,” Lily said. The portrait swung up, revealing a crawl space. Lily and James crawled inside. “James, go up and get Sirius, Remus, and Peter. I’ll get Bella and Breanna.”

James looked at her with an incredulous look. “Wake the guys up? When they’re _sleeping?_ Lily, you don’t understand – you _never_ wake a Marauder after they’ve fallen asleep.”

“Oh?” she asked, taking this as a challenge. And she marched right up the boys’ staircase and opened the door to their room. She pulled out a few objects from her pocket and set them on a floor. Pulling out her wand, Lily prodded them a bit and ran out of the room, closing the door behind her. “I do this all of the time to wake my friends up,” she said with simplicity.

“Oh.”

And not a second later, there was a sound of an explosion in the room. And it was a good thing Lily had closed the door. If she hadn’t, it might’ve woken up the whole house. And that might not have been the best thing to do at eleven o’clock at night.

The sounds faded out and Lily cracked the door open. There was slight movement.

“James?” one squeaked.

“Don’t let the light in!” another called, pulling their bed hangings shut angrily.

James marched into the room, feeling much more comfortable with the awoken surroundings. “Remus, Peter, go downstairs.” James walked over to Sirius’ bed slowly, peaking inside. He was motionless. “Leeeeeeeeeeeleeeeeeeeeeeeee,” James moaned, walking back to the door where Lily stood. “Sirius still isn’t awake!”

“He – _what?_ Nobody’s _ever_ slept through my wake up call before!” she murmured, incredulously.

“Yes, well Sirius is a one-of-a-kind individual. And not to mention one of the most prone people to sounds and explosions. So I think we’re going to have to do this the hard way.” James waited until Remus and Peter left. “Lily, you may want to shut the door. And possibly get ear plugs if you want them.”

“I don’t need them,” she said, waving it off with her hand.

“Suit yourself,” James muttered, conjuring ear plugs in his ears. It was now James’ turn to pull out his wand. “ _Agito._ ”

A line of water spurted out of the end of his wand and was pointed directly at Sirius’ face. And seconds after the two objects met, there was a sound of shrill screaming coming from the person next to James.

Lily was caught unaware. She threw her hands over her ears in a desperate attempt to block the sound out. But it didn’t seem to work as well as ear plugs might have.

And as soon as it had started, the screaming stopped and all was silent.

“J – James?” Sirius sat up in bed and looked at the alarm clock next to his bed. “ _Why the hell are you waking me up at eleven?_ ”

“Uh - ” James glanced at the open door. Lily must have darted out of the room after Sirius had woken up. “I’ll explain in a bit – just don’t hurt me first, ok?”

Sirius narrowed his eyes with his arms crossed over his chest with a pout creeping on his lips. All in all, it was a very funny look on him. Here was Sirius with a white T-shirt and scarlet bed covers to his waist and a ‘morning face’ at night. James just barely held in his laughter.

“Alright, I won’t kill you yet,” he mumbled, stepping out of bed and walking down the stairs. “Uh, James, before we go downstairs, I have something I have to ask – no, something I have to tell you.”

“Ok,” James said, raising an eyebrow, curious.

“James, Bella and I are going to Hogsmeade on Saturday this week.”

James didn’t speak or move. There was silence and then James held up his hands, as if he were expecting something more. “And?” he implied.

“And? And what?” Sirius asked, shocked by his behavior. “I’m telling you that we’re going to Hogsmeade whether you want us to or not.”

“Is that all?”

“Yes… Were you thinking there was more?”

“I guess.” James shrugged. “Oh well. Good luck, then.”

“Wait, one more thing,” Sirius said. “Can we – er – borrow your invisibility cloak? Please?” Sirius pleaded with a grin spread across his face.

“Sure,” James approved. “But only if you _really_ like her. I don’t want _every_ girl you go out with to know about my cloak!”

Sirius raised an eyebrow at his awkward attitude towards this news. And then smiled, gratefully. “Thanks, Prongs.”

“You’re welcome, Padfoot, old buddy,” James said. And then he looked as if he were searching for something in his brain. ”Uh, Sirius, just a little question for you. Who exactly _did_ draw that picture of you and Bella?”

Sirius grinned at him. “Me.”

“You – you – what? You can _draw?_ ”

“Hard to believe, isn’t it?” Sirius asked, chuckling. “Now, what is it _you_ have to tell me?” Sirius asked, walking back down the stairs again.

“Just go downstairs for a bit.”

Sirius nodded, suppressing a large yawn. The two boys rounded the last corner and Sirius raised his eyebrow at the scene laid out before him. Remus and Peter had each picked an armchair on opposite ends of the coffee table while Bella and Breanna sat on the couch. Lily sat on the ground, waiting for James and Sirius to arrive.

Sirius walked in and sat next to Bella with her in between Breanna and him while James walked over to Lily and sat next to her on the floor.

Everyone’s jaws dropped.

“Everyone,” Lily said in a commanding-like voice, taking advance of the stunned silence and the astonished looks, “James and I have something we need to tell you all.”

James nodded, glancing at every one of their stunned faces. He let a smile crawl on his face.

Breanna spoke before any others could but said exactly what others were thinking. “You two are going out, aren’t you?”

Lily shook her head and rolled her eyes while James buried his face in his hands, hoping beyond hope that others thought he was laughing at the absurdity of the idea instead of hiding his red face. “No, we’re not going out, Breanna. But we do have some news we have to tell you. And I’m _really_ sorry I didn’t tell any of you sooner. I was a little scared, but James and I just managed to figure everything out now.”

“And so you had to wake us up at eleven to tell us that?” Sirius asked grumpily while Bella slapped him on the arm, shushing him.

“Be quiet, Sirius! Just let them talk!”

Sirius crossed his arms and leaned into the back of the couch. “Speak!” he commanded, yawning.

James smirked at Sirius. _They make a pretty good couple._

“Alright,” Lily started into the story, speaking nearly every detail that had happened – except for the parts where James had his “bad feelings.” There were several “Oh no!” and “What’d you do next?” from their audience. Once they reached the part where they had come back home from Diagon Alley, James spoke the rest of the way considering Lily was too busy crying on his shoulder again. Though they weren’t sobs now, just tears. A few other people began crying or tearing up as well in the audience. Bella and Breanna both stood up and walked over to Lily to comfort her. (“Are you sure you’re ok, Lily?” Bella had asked, worried.)

Peter, Sirius, and Bella seemed to be taking this news very hard to absorb. It was funny having these two fighting one day, and then the next they go and befriend the other! Not to mention they also acted as if they’ve been life long friends.

Sirius began thinking to himself. _Boy is Hogwarts about to get a surprise tomorrow morning._

The one-sided conversation finished at one thirty which seemed almost too soon. “And so we decided to be friends just now.”

Sirius sat straight up, laughing. “Whoa – wait – just like that? You decided to be friends? Is that even possible?”

James and Lily looked at each other and shrugged, turning back to face him. “I guess so.”

Sirius just stared at them. “Bella?” he managed to choke out.

“Yes, what is it?” she asked, looking at him, amusedly.

“Am I hallucinating? Do I have a temperature?”

Bella put her hand to his head and pretended to feel for a temperature, but soon pushed him backwards into the couch farther instead and took a pillow to hit him with.

“Ack – hey – Be – ew… fere er fafers in myf mouf!” Sirius choked out, spitting feathers out of his mouth, still being bombarded by pillows from others now.

“What was that, Sirius?” Bella asked sweetly, holding back her pillow.

“I _said_ that there were feathers in my mouth!”

“Huh,” she muttered. “That’s what I thought you said.”

And she threw another pillow at him.

Remus rolled his eyes at the couple. “So you two became friends and now you’re here telling us what happened?”

They nodded.

“Ok – good!” Sirius choked, trying to make it to the steps.

“Hold it, Black!” Bella yelled, jumping on his back, still continuing all the while to hit him with the feather pillow.

Sirius yelled and ran in circles around the room with Bella still holding onto him, hitting like a mad woman.

Peter, Remus, and Breanna left quietly and quickly before they could get blamed for waking the whole of Gryffindor house up. Lily and James managed to pull Bella off of Sirius in about ten minutes, while still laughing like a maniac.

“Come on, Bella, let’s go upstairs now – we can resume this game tomorrow morning, alright?”

“Whoa! No way! Lily – you are _not_ going to have that mad woman attack me right when I come downstairs before breakfast!” Sirius called to them, a little worried.

“Don’t worry, Sirius. I won’t have her attack you when you’re down here,” Lily replied, walking Bella up the stairs.

James watched as Sirius’ face changed from that of a scared man, to a joyful man. “You really like her, don’t you?” James asked, sprawling out on the couch.

Sirius sat on the armchair, near the top half of James, and ran his hand through his hair, causing a few feathers to fall off. “She’s really something,” Sirius whispered, just as the girls’ door closed shut.

James laughed and put his hands behind his head. “She’s like your other half, Sirius. Did you see how she was acting? _Just like you!_ ”

Sirius laughed. “Is that how I seriously act?”

James shrugged, a smile tugging at his lips. “Most of the time.”

Sirius rolled his eyes and leaned back. “I hope I’m not like that all of the time.”

“I just said _most_ of the time, Sirius,” James repeated.

He waved his hand at James. “Whatever.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, thinking.

“You know, James, you and Lily are getting pretty buddy-buddy there, too, don’t ya know?” Sirius said.

James laughed. “So now you’re going to try and set us up after we just _finally_ overcame our enemy stage? Shouldn’t you be happy we’re at least friends?”

Sirius raised his hands in defense. “Hey, I’m just speaking my mind! I mean, come on, look at her! She was crying on your shoulder, man! Do you know what that means?”

James rolled his eyes. But he was still curious about Sirius’ answer. “What?”

“She wants you! She _needs_ you! I think you should ask her out on a date this weekend – but you can’t go to Hogsmeade ‘cause Bella and I are going there.”

James sat up and rolled his eyes again. “Sirius, I’m not going to ask Lily out on a date,” were the words he spoke, though inside, James was wishing that Sirius was right.

Sirius shrugged. “Suit yourself. But I know she likes ya, Jamesie, and there’s nothin’ you can do about it!”

James said nothing. His mind was whirring with fresh thoughts. Was Sirius right? Maybe he should take his advice and ask her out. But what if that ruined their friendship? Sirius helped him out of his tangled mind.

“James, there’s something I have to confess again.”

James’ eyebrows rose. “You mean something other than you’ve been associating with Bella behind my back?”

Sirius was alert once again. “Hey, stop right there, James! I wouldn’t be talking if I were you!”

James shrugged and smiled. “Oh well. Continue.”

Sirius began to squirm in his seat uncomfortably. “I sort-of heard you and Remus talking last night. I wasn’t exactly asleep then. I’m sorry, James, really, I am!” he pleaded.

James didn’t do anything. It was his reaction to a lot of things these days, Sirius realized. “I should be the one who’s sorry, Sirius. I was a jerk. I should’ve been able to trust you! I mean, my best friend in the whole world and I didn’t tell him what happened over winter break.”

“No, James, I understand why you wouldn’t trust me! Really, it’s ok.”

James shook his head. “No, Remus knocked some sense into me last night. If I really wanted you to keep a secret, then I should’ve known you would have.”

Sirius smiled at him and held out his hand. “Let’s call it even.”

“Deal.”

The boys shook on it and walked up to their dormitory, arms slung over the other’s shoulder.

**Author's Note: Ah, I adore James and Sirius. Haha! There wasn't even that much with just the two of them... I just love them. That's all I wanted to tell you. :D**

 

**Yours truly,**

 

**Amelia Bedelia**


	12. Midnight Buffet

**Author's Note: Once again - nothing! Just enjoy!**

**Chapter Twelve: Midnight Buffet**

The Marauders woke earlier than normal. Why? A pillow had apparently been thrown in Sirius’ face.

“Wake up, Black!” a voice shrieked. “It’s morning!”

Sirius grumbled, rolling over into the comfort of his pillow, attempting to blocks out the voice. He knew that voice. He heard it all the time in his dreams.

“Bella, stop! I need to _sleep!_ ” He yelled, incoherently into his pillow. “Do you people not understand my need for beauty sleep?” he asked, venomously.

Bella laughed, now sitting on the side of his bed. “Yeah, _extreme_ need.”

By this time, James and Remus had woken up as well and were sniggering and ooh-ing at the comment made by the brave soul.

Sirius froze on the spot. “Excuse me – what did you say? You said – that’s it!” He then wrapped one arm around her waist and tossed her onto the mattress of his bed, proceeding to sit on top of her waist.

“Ugh – Sirius! Get off me! I was joking! You’ve – you’ve got a _beautiful_ face! And your hair – the best I’ve ever seen! Oh, and your body – best damn body in the world,” she gushed, hoping he would move.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, turning to glance at Bella’s face. She gave him a rather angelic smile. “Don’t believe you,” Sirius said, grinning back.

He pretended to turn away from her and file his nails, crossing his legs in a feminine manner.

Bella thought for a minute, and then brought her hands up. “Well, maybe you might reconsider now,” and she launched herself at Sirius, pushing him to the floor beside the bed.

In an instant, Sirius was rolling around on the floor, laughing as Bella climbed on him, doing the exact same thing he had done to her – but with a bit of tickling involved.

“Bella – you ca – you can’t – t-tickle – _me_ witho – without getting away with – it!” She laughed evilly, as she watched him squirm.

“Oh, yeah?” Bella pressed.

“Yeah!” he shouted, tossing Bella off of himself and onto the bed once again. He did some quick moving and ended up sitting on top of her stomach before she could escape. Bella was now the victim of endless torment. Ignoring the catcalls from James and Remus, Bella shrieked. “Sirius, stop it!” she giggled as he tickled her sides mercilessly. “Alright, I give up! You win, Sirius!”

He grinned, evilly. “Now, I want you to say how _charming_ and _wonderful_ I am. Say it like you mean it.”

Slightly blushing at the fact he had no shirt on, she put on a straight face. Well, as best as she could, considering Sirius was sitting on top of her stomach. And it hurt! “Sirius, you don’t need beauty sleep. You’re already perfect.”

“Perfect?” he questioned, leaning in so that he was three inches from her face.

“Perfect,” she repeated. And then broke into hysterics.

“I give up,” Sirius muttered, walking into the bathroom.

James and Remus, astonished by Sirius’ quick defeat, leapt off of their beds and gave Bella a standing ovation.

“Wonderful, my dear lady!” James called, clapping enthusiastically.

“Absolutely stunning!” Remus agreed, laughing.

“Thank you, thank you,” Bella replied, bowing deeply so that her hair brushed against the floor. “I’ll be here all year! But now, I’m going to head down to the common room. See you all later!”

By the time the boys had dressed and were ready with their books needed for the day, there were only a few people left in the common room.

“There you are! I thought you four were going to skip breakfast and leave us here! We’ve been waiting for half an hour!”

James looked at the speaker. “You know, Lily,” he spoke, leading her out of the common room, “no matter what kind of relationship we may have, you’ll always be the same.”

“Is that good or bad?” Breanna snickered.

Lily just glared, proving James’ point, but she soon dropped it. “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day,” she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

“It may be for you,” James contradicted, “but the Midnight Buffet has my vote!”

Lily’s eyebrows shot into her hairline in a questionable look. “Midnight Buffet?”

Sirius ran forward between Lily and James, grinning broadly. “What’s this about the Midnight Buffet?” he asked eagerly.

Lily smiled and shook her head. “I was just asking what it was.”

Sirius’ eyes lit up, almost as if he were talking about Quidditch or some recent prank they had pulled on Snape. “It’s the _best!_ We always go down to the Midnight Buffet once a week – sometimes more, if necessary,” he said, adopting a serious tone. “The house elves put out a line of food and it’s all-you-can-eat!”

“Sirius, everything is all-you-can-eat her,” Bella pointed out. “Dinner, lunch, breakfast,” she listed, ticking each option off on her fingers.

“But this is the Midnight Buffet we’re talking about!” Sirius continued.

The seven teenagers walked into the Great Hall. Immediately, the sound dropped so low you would be able to hear a pin drop. Every eye turned on Lily and James the moment they stepped into the room. Nobody spoke. Not even the teachers.

“What?” Lily snapped, into the deafening silence, even though she knew exactly what the answer to ‘what’ was and blushed. “Hasn’t anybody ever seen people be civil before?” She looked around the room and glared at anyone who continued staring. “Now then, continue with your own business!”

She stomped angrily off to the Gryffindor table and plopped into a seat, dishing food items onto her plate. Several students turned back to their friends and whispered frantically, while others gazed at the Gryffindor sixth years in awe.

“What’s wrong with James?”

“Are they going out? They can’t be!”

“I bet it’s all a that the Marauders will pull on the girls in the end.”

“Am I hallucinating?”

James tried to ignore the eyes following him and the comments being passed from person to person as he slipped into the seat between Lily and Remus, also scooping large amounts of food onto his plate.

“So,” Lily said, picking up where they had left off, “What were you saying about this buffet?”

James jumped in, eager to break the eerie silence that had fallen around the Gryffindor table. “They have anything you ask for. Meat, drinks, candies – you name it, they have it!”

“Do they have Bertie Botts’ Beans?” Breanna asked from the other side of Remus.

“ _Anything_ ,” Peter answered, proud that he finally found a spot to enter the conversation. “Except we couldn’t go to the Midnight Buffet a few nights ago ’cause Moony trans - ”

Everything seemed to happen at once. Sirius had thrown his hand over Peter’s mouth, but used too much force causing both boys to fall off of the chair, leaving Bella to look down at the tangle of arms and legs in confusion. Remus had turned a very pale color while both he and James were breathing very hard now.

For the second time that day, all eyes were on the Marauders – and it wasn’t because of a prank.

“Er – sorry, Peter. Lost my balance there,” Sirius fibbed, glaring at the large boy, who smiled back, feebly.

“Back to your own business,” Lily called loudly to the crowd of students.

Breanna leaned in. “What was _that_ all about?”

“I lost my balance,” Sirius repeated, standing up off of the floor, dusting off the front of his uniform.

Bella looked at him skeptically but turned back to her breakfast. “So, back to the Midnight Buffet. Who goes to this?” she asked, hoping to avoid the topic of the peculiar happening earlier.

Remus’ face colored, looking normal again. “We’re the only people. We created it. You guys should come with us.”

Breanna raised an eyebrow. “When’s the next time you’re going?”

Sirius spoke now. “We were planning on going Saturday - ”

“But we thought we’d move it to tonight considering Saturday would be busy enough for Sirius as it is,” James cut in, grinning evilly from ear to ear.

Sirius kicked James underneath the table, but he made no move to show it hurt. In fact, it pleased him all the more that Sirius was bothered by this topic. _All the more to embarrass him,_ James thought.

Lily smiled, joining James in his ‘torment time.’ “Yes, you two have a date this weekend, haven’t you? Hogsmeade, right? Where are you planning to take Bella?” she asked, curious.

Bella turned red in anger, and possibly embarrassment. “We’re just going as friends,” she said.

James watched Sirius’ face closely. Even if it seemed like he agreed with her, the minute those words came out of Bella’s mouth, his face fell. James felt his stomach clench up in embarrassment for Sirius. He needed to stop this topic before something really bad happened to Sirius.

“We make a great team at this embarrassing thing, Lily,” James said loudly, diverting their attention to him. “Why did we always use it against each other in the beginning again?”

Lily shrugged, smiling all the while.

James glanced at his watch. There was a good fifteen minutes until they had to go to class. He had to talk to Lily. “I’m going to class. Anybody care to join me?” Carefully, James tapped Lily’s knee under the table, signaling for her to join him.

“Uh – I’ll go,” Lily said, standing up with him. The two teenagers set off out of the Great Hall.

It wasn’t until they were smack dab in the middle of the room that Sirius regained the use of his mouth and shouted, “Aw, are the two lovebirds going to class _early?_ ”

Students throughout the room laughed and jeered at the comment Sirius made. But James smiled smugly. Because he knew how to retaliate to that comment.

“Don’t you know it!” he called back, slipping an arm around Lily’s waist. He caught a look at the Gryffindor table. His old, as well as his new, friends were all laughing – except for Sirius. He seemed to be in a state of shock at the moment, but he wasn’t alone. Nearly everyone else in the hall seemed to be joining him in the silent and awestruck looks.

Once they left the vicinity of the students, James laughed. “Sorry ’bout that, Lily. I had to put Sirius back in his place,” James joked.

Lily laughed and they continued down the hallway until…

“Uh, James?” She pointed to his hand that was still wrapped around her waist.

James tried to keep the blood in his face down, but to no avail. “Sorry,” he mumbled, taking a step away from her. He had just felt so at ease and relaxed when he stood with her side by side that he’d forgotten his arm was wrapped around her waist. It felt so natural to him.

Lily chuckled as he carefully placed his hands inside his pockets, while attempting to act calm. “So, you wanted to talk to me?” she questioned.

“Oh – right.” James seemed more comfortable talking about something now. “I just had a question – about Bella.”

“Bella?” she repeated, clearly interested. “What about her?”

“Does she like Sirius?” Lily’s lips formed into a smile and James spoke once again. “I know this seems like an odd question, but Sirius was really put out when she said they were going to Hogsmeade only as friends. And I’m not sure if I should say this or not, but,” James lowered his voice, glancing at the passing people, “I was talking to Sirius last night, just after you and Bella left. He’s _crazy_ about her! I’ve never seen him talk about her or look at her the way he did last night.”

Lily smiled again. “She does have a way of doing that to guys, doesn’t she?”

James looked at her sharply. “Lily Evans,” he said, “are you – dare I say it – _jealous_?”

He had meant this as a joke, though Lily took it seriously instead. “Yes,” she answered, keeping her focus.

James’ smile was wiped off of his face. “You – you’re really jealous?”

“Come on, James,” Lily sighed, exasperatedly, “she has probably captured the heart of every boy in this school.”

“Not mine,” James cut in quickly.

“Oh, really?” Lily asked, suddenly interested. “Then whom does _your_ heart belong to?” she questioned, pressing a finger into his chest on the word ‘your.’

“N – No one,” he lied. “At least – not yet.” _Close one._

Lily shrugged. “Well, Bella has a great body and personality – who wouldn’t like her? What have _I_ got?” she asked, pointing to herself.

James felt as if the spotlight had been shifted from Arabella to Lily and himself. “Well, you’ve got a great body and personality too, Lily!”

Lily looked at him, not convinced. So James continued.

He began to relax. This was easy! List all of Lily’s good qualities. There were billions of them! “You’ve got beautiful eyes. And you’re really smart too. You’d be the perfect person for any guy to date. Tell me this, Lily – have you ever asked anyone out and have them _reject_ you?”

Lily started to squirm a bit. “I’ve never asked anyone out.”

“Well, there you go! You could just boost your confidence a bit and I bet that any guy you asked out would say yes.”

Lily smiled kindly at him. “Thanks, James.”

He returned the smile. “But, back to the subject. Are you trying to say that Bella doesn’t like Sirius – that she’s just toying with his emotions?”

Lily shook her head. “I never said that. I just said she catches the guys’ eyes. She’s been on so many dates and kissed so many guys I’ve lost track. I mean, me, I’ve had one boyfriend and been kissed by two boys. I can count all of that on one hand!”

James raised an eyebrow. “So, Amos kissed you and then I did?” he asked.

Lily nodded. “Actually, it was you and then Amos.”

James stopped walking, trying to put all of the information together. “I – I was your first kiss?”

Lily nodded, trying not to make much eye contact with him. “At the time, I was planning on killing you, but I never really had a chance what with the events over winter break and the two of us finally becoming friends,” she said, giggling a bit.

James laughed. “You know, that was my first one too.”

Lily’s jaw dropped. “No it wasn’t,” she said accusingly.

James laughed again. “Really, it was. I’m telling the truth!” he continued as he watched her disbelieving face.

Lily shook her head. “What about Christy in Ravenclaw? She said you two would share kisses all the time!”

“She lied,” James said simply. “The first girl I went out with – someone in Hufflepuff, I think – apparently made a bet with her friend that I would kiss her on the first date. Obviously I didn’t know about this bet then, but word came around to later on. Anyway,” he continued, “she must have made a high bet and didn’t want to lose, so she lied. And ever since then, other girls I went out with would be jealous of those who said they’ve kissed me, so they’d also lie to say they ‘have what it takes’ to get kissed by me.”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Typical boy,” she muttered. “Did you not even _try_ to stop the rumors?”

“I found out about them after the third girl I dated – but by that time it was too late to stop them.” James sighed, defeated.

“But you at least tried, didn’t you?”

“’Course I did! I even tried to yell it in the common room once, but no one believed me. Especially when the girls I’d dated had gone into so much _detail_ , there was no chance anyone would believe me then. It was rather gross, really,” he muttered.

Lily chuckled. “Yes, they say you kiss at the strangest, yet most romantic moments. And they also say that you could sweep them off their feet with just one small kiss. And that you have the softest, most gentle kiss there could ever be, yet with every ounce of passion and longing.”

James just ruffled up his hair, while his face heated up. “It’s strange to be talked about that way when I’ve only kissed one person.”

“Well,” Lily said, “I can at least confirm one thing. You do kiss at the strangest time. And if I hadn’t been your enemy then, I might’ve thought it was pretty romantic, too.”

James grinned evilly. “But I’m not a kisser to knock you off your feet?”

“It wasn’t long enough. And, like I said, back then I would try to criticize everything you did just to make you angry, so I don’t really remember everything.”

She was lying, of course.

“Ok,” James said.

“But how am I supposed to believe you? You could be making this all up. After all, I did think everything was believable up until you told me you never kissed them.”

James shrugged. “You’re just going to have to trust me. _Or_ you could snatch some Veriteserum from the private store cupboard in the potions classroom and ask every girl who’s claimed they’ve kissed me, whether they’re lying or not.”

Lily smiled, now beginning to walk again. “I’ll just take your word for it, I guess.”

“Thank you!” he exclaimed, throwing his hands into the air.

_Now I feel pretty awkward with him,_ she thought. “But I’m still bugged by this; why you kissed me – on the lips, I mean.”

“Your parents were watching!” he defended. “And it wouldn’t have been that believable if I didn’t kiss you on the lips, you know,” he said, with the slightest trace of color creeping into his cheeks.

Lily smiled kindly at him. “It’s ok, James, I forgive you,” she joked.

He grinned back, nervously. How had they started talking about Sirius and Bella, then end up talking about their first kiss? James shrugged mentally. _Oh well._ “So, back to Bella and Sirius – again.” Both smiled. “Does she like him or not?”

“She says she doesn’t – but she does. It’s all in the way she acts around him, just like Sirius. It’s completely obvious. Bella never acts that way with anyone else. It’s like they’re perfect matches for each other. They fill in all of the missing pieces and somehow complete the other. Do you know what I’m talking about?”

“I think so. You’re saying that whenever one enters the room and sees the other, they’re filled with endless happiness, right? But the minute they’re separated, endless sorrow.” James looked over at Lily and she looked back. Immediately, joy flooded throughout him and he started to speak straight from the heart at what he thought when looking at Lily. “And whenever they’d gaze into the other’s eyes, they feel as if nothing could ever go wrong in the world as long as you’re side by side.”

Lily, with her jaw partially dropped into an open smile, was now staring avidly right back at him, but she caught herself and tugged her gaze away from his, clearing her throat. “Yeah, s-something like that,” she managed to choke out, regaining the use of her voice.

James looked away as well and smiled at his feet, feeling like the luckiest guy in the world.

“Potter!”

James’ head snapped up and he began searching the hallway for the owner of the voice. And once he found it, he rolled his eyes skyward and continued walking, trying to ignore the shouts of protest following him.

“Hey, Potter – I’m talking to you!”

Amos Diggory began closing in on the pair of sixth years strolling down the hallway.

“What do you want?” James resigned, turning around.

“Stay away from my girlfriend,” Amos hissed, venomously. He moved closer and pulled Lily away. “I’m so sorry, sweetie.” He moved in and planted a long kiss full on her lips.

James stared in awe, shaken by the sight before him. One of his worst enemies was kissing his former enemy – also known as the girl he _loved_. He began to swell in anger. But he stopped himself. If Lily still liked Amos, James would not get in the way. He would be a good friend and not bother her.

Slowly, he backed away. And just then, something caught his eye. Lily was trying to get away from Amos, but he wouldn’t let her.

James grinned.

He marched over to Amos and shoved him away from Lily, pushing her protectively behind him. Though he should have known better than to expect Lily to wait on the sidelines while James would resolve the problem. So the minute she was pushed behind him, she walked around to stand side by side with her new best friend.

Stumbling a bit, Amos managed to catch himself. He tried to stare James down, but it was pretty much hopeless, considering Amos was a good three inches shorter.

“Got a problem, Diggory?” James asked, innocently.

By this time, a small ring of passerbys was formed around the three.

“As a matter of fact, I have. You seem to be forgetting one little detail. She’s _mine_ – _my_ girlfriend. Not yours,” he stated clearly for everyone to hear. Amos reached out to grab Lily’s hand, but she pulled away instead. This caught everyone unexpectedly. James had just about been ready to speak, but Lily beat him to it.

“Excuse me, Amos,” she started, narrowing her eyes and stepping forward, “first of all – I’m a human being! Not something you can own!” she yelled, poking a finger into his chest as she spoke. “And second, I’m not your girlfriend anymore! We’re over – done – finished – finite! Good-bye, _Diggory_.”

Lily spun on her heel and made her way through the thick crowd leaving behind two stunned boys.

_Well,_ James mused, _maybe she didn’t need as much help as I thought she did._

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily exited through the thick crowd and felt extremely pleased with herself. The minute Amos had said that Lily was ‘his,’ she was ecstatic. He had just made something click inside of her that caused her to overreact a bit.

It wasn’t long after Lily had left, that James soon caught up with her long, angry strides.

“Whoa! Lily, you can slow down, you know,” James panted, jogging beside her. “We’ll only be a little late to Defense against the Dark Arts.”

Lily stopped for a split second. “Oh no,” she moaned. “I completely forgot! She’s going to kill us for being late! I just got so caught up with our – uh – conversation and the Diggory thing. Jeez, he’s annoying,” Lily muttered.

James chuckled and then began to ponder a few thoughts. “Lily – why exactly did you go out with Diggory again? For going out again yesterday – you dumped him pretty quick. And for some reason, I’m not thinking this whole ‘owning’ thing is the main reason why you broke up with him,” he said, recalling his memory when Lily had been trying to push Amos away.

Lily laughed along with him, still trying to hurry towards their next class. “Do you really want to know?”

“I really want to know,” he mimicked.

“Well, my ulterior motive was just to anger you.”

James raised an eyebrow, skeptical. “Serious?”

“I’m serious! You just got me angry and that was the first idea that popped into my head. And now I’m really starting to regret it,” she said. But little did even _she_ know, that was not even half of her reasoning for going out with Amos again.

James just nodded silently.

They walked in silence. It was not until both teenagers stood outside of Professor Sonetra’s classroom – also late – that they slowed down.

Lily turned to face James. She seemed to be struggling to find the right words to say. And after several antagonizing seconds, she spoke. “You’re – you’re really easy to talk to, James. I find myself just speaking my mind whenever you’re around. And you actually listen to me!” She smiled at this point. “I’m still baffled why we were never friends earlier.”

“That would make two of us.”

They laughed, glancing furtive looks at the other nervously. And then Lily stuck out her hand. “Friends, right?”

“Of course,” James replied, shaking her hand awkwardly. Both released grips. “I guess I’ll see you around the block, then,” he muttered.

“Sure,” Lily replied. “See ya.”

James nodded at her as she walked inside. Then, using the palm of his hand, he hit himself smack dab between his eyes.

Nice going, Prongs! “See you around the block”? What the hell was that? Way to keep your cool around her…

And resignedly, James trudged inside.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Class ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Miss Evans! Mr. Potter! You two are five minutes late! Twenty points from Gryffindor for your tardiness – _each!_ ”

The students all cringed. This was one teacher not to cross. Professor Sonetra was one of the strictest teachers in all of Hogwarts. Even the Marauders didn’t cross her as much as they would have if it were any other teacher. She did not mess around with any bad behavior whatsoever.

“Now, sit down before I must assign a detention to each of you!”

Without putting up any sort of fight, James sat in the seat next to Sirius, and Lily slipped in the desk next to Bella.

“As I was just saying before we all were _rudely_ interrupted,” Professor Sonetra said, moving into her lecture on another exotic animal for that week.

“So,” Bella hissed, leaning over, “what’d James say to you? Why were you _late_ to class?” she questioned, a smirk threatening to overtake her face.

Lily rolled her eyes and pulled out some parchment, pretending to take notes. She was, after all, an expert at these little chitchats during class. “It was nothing, Bella. All we did was talk about stuff we never could before since we were, obviously, enemies before!” This wasn’t really a lie, but it wasn’t exactly the truth either. “And I was late mostly because I had a little break-up with Diggory a while ago,” she said, offhandedly.

“You broke up?”

Lily smiled, still looking straight ahead. “You didn’t really think I would keep going out with him after we broke-up once before, did you?”

“Actually,” Bella confessed, “I didn’t know.”

“You didn’t know?” Lily asked, surprised. Then she thought back to the day before. Bella had been in class, but she never saw her anywhere else but there. So it was common sense that she would not have known in the first place. “Oh, yeah. Well, then, never mind.”

“Never mind?” Bella hissed. “How can I ‘never mind’ something like this? You have so much to tell me, Lily. For starters – why did you even start going out with him again? I thought you hated him to no end – just like you did James.” A look of comprehension dawned on Bella’s face. “Wait a minute – this doesn’t have anything to do with him, does it?”

Lily didn’t say anything.

“It _does!_ ”

“Miss Figg!”

Bella looked up, shocked by the sudden interruption. “Y-yes, Professor Sonetra?”

“Stop your talking! Thirty points from Gryffindor.”

Bella groaned.

“Do I need to add a detention as well?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then please pay attention!”

Bella waited until the teacher turned her back and stuck her tongue out at her. Lily scribbled something on the sheet of parchment she had out.

That was real mature.

Bella read Lily’s writing and rolled her eyes, smiling. **_Shut up._**

_What? Just stating the obvious!_

**_Uh-huh. Sure. Now, back to James._ **

It was now time for Lily to roll her eyes. _There’s nothing to say about James!_

**_Oh, come on! You like him._ **

_I do not!_ Lily scribbled, indignantly. _Why don’t we talk about Sirius, then? You like him, don’t you?_

Lily watched as Bella began to blush as she wrote. **_I don’t like him. We’re going to Hogsmeade as friends._**

_Well, then, what about that picture underneath your pillow? Just a “friends” gift, is it?_

**_You had no right to go in my belongings and snoop!_ **

_You were hiding something from me._

**_As were you!_ **

Lily began to feel guilty.

_I’m sorry, Bella. I felt so mixed up at the time, though that’s not exactly the best excuse I’ve ever had._

**_I forgive you,_** Bella wrote. **_After all, that was Sirius’ excuse for fighting with me the same night you and James were._**

_What’d he say to you?_

**_It was so sweet!_** Bella gushed. **_He found me down in the kitchens and started off by giving me a rose. And then we ended up dancing around the room in the end forgetting about dinner completely!_**

Lily glanced at Bella raising an eyebrow. _And you have the gall after that to still say you don’t like him – only as friends?_

**_I give in. I do like him._ **

_The first step to help is admitting the problem to yourself._

**_Shut up, Lily!_ **

_I was joking – joking!_ Lily had to cover her mouth with her hand to keep from laughing and interrupting the class, but she soon got back on track. _So – how_ _much do you like him?_

Bella sighed. **_Why must every topic change to Sirius and me? What about James and you? What did you two talk about?_**

_None of your business._

**_Right,_** Bella wrote. **_So I tell you about how I liked Sirius, and you don’t even tell me what you said to James? I’m hurt, Lily!_**

_I didn’t_ make _you tell me! I persuaded you._

**_Well, I can’t persuade you!_ **

_That would be your fault._

Bella huffed and leaned back in her chair leaving an amused Lily, printing some last minute notes on her blank parchment.

Earlier that lesson, James had taken a seat next to Sirius. And Sirius, needless to say, was just as eager to find out what James had been up to.

“What’d you say to her, mate?”

James rolled his eyes. He knew he would be getting these types of questions up until the end of his life and they definitely got very tiring very quickly. “I told her how you had a major crush on Bella, how I’ve never kissed anyone I’ve dated, and we both told off Diggory.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’m serious, James.”

“I know you are. Sirius Black.”

“James! Stop playing those mind tricks – they’re hard enough to follow as is without you having to add my name to the list,” Sirius complained.

“Whatever.”

Sirius sat patiently, waiting for James to speak. But he didn’t. “So… Did you really tell her that I liked Bella?”

“Yes.”

Sirius thumped his head on his desk. “Why did you do that?”

“Because I trust her. About just as much as I trust you.”

“And you don’t like her?” Sirius questioned.

“I never said I didn’t like her.”

“Ha! You love Lily Evans!”

“I don’t love Lily,” James muttered, trying to drop his voice so that the Professor wouldn’t round on them as she had on Bella and Lily already.

“You love Lily! There’s no doubt about it, James. It’s all in your eyes.”

“I don’t love her!” James whispered, frantically. “I’ve just recently learned how to trust her a lot because I went through a lot this winter and I think she’s done the same to me.”

“So, she loves you too!”

“Sirius! Get it through your thick skull! We don’t love each other! We’re friends!”

Sirius shrugged. “I’ll get it out of you eventually.”

James smirked. “You love Bella, don’t you?”

“I _like_ her – not love. And plus,” Sirius added, “I don’t think she likes me much. We’re friends. Only.”

“She likes you too, Sirius,” James replied, making a few notes on his parchment.

“No she doesn’t, James. You heard her this morning. She said we were going to Hogsmeade as _friends_.”

“Sirius, Sirius, Sirius,” James muttered. “Do you not remember what I said earlier? I do believe I said that I was talking to Lily about how you liked Bella, correct?”

“Yeah…”

“And Lily told me that she was sure Bella liked you,” James finished.

Sirius didn’t say anything for a moment; he just stared blankly ahead before whispering once again, “You’re sure?”

“Positive.”

Sirius grinned using his dog-like smile. “And was that the reason why you and Lily left breakfast early? Was it because of us?” Sirius asked.

“Yep.”

Again, Sirius smiled. “Thanks, mate. I owe you for that one.”

“You bet you do!” James replied. “But I think if you just made one of those pictures you draw so well, that’ll do.”

“No problem! I’ve already made one of the six of us.”

James raised an eyebrow. “The six of us as in Lily, Bella, Breanna, Remus, me, and you?”

Sirius nodded. “Although, you may not like it much if you don’t like Lily.”

James’ jaw dropped. “What did you do to the picture, Sirius?”

Sirius searched for the correct words. “I, uh, added a motion charm to the picture to make it look like wizard cameras.”

James fought back a smile at the idea of a prank pulled on Snape using a motion charm. “And what is it we’re doing?”

“Not _much_.”

“Sirius! You’re making it sound to me as if it’ll be something I’ll regret.”

“As long as you and Lily aren’t embarrassed by the thought of the picture making you two look like a couple, you shouldn’t regret it.”

James shook his messy head of hair, chuckling. “You’re lucky I don’t hate her anymore.”

“Right,” Sirius agreed. “’Cause you love her now.”

“Sirius,” James hissed, warningly. “Not another word.”

Sirius shrugged, opening a book and pretending to pay attention to Professor Sonetra.

“Now,” she piped up, “I will assign you to groups of two. And don’t complain about your partners, as they won’t be changing for another nine weeks. We will be working on a project about leithfolds and their nature, their habitat, and virtually anything about their lifecycle. You will sit next to your partner during class and spend your class time researching anything and everything about leithfolds. You are to give a twenty-minute presentation and turn in a fifty-inch essay at the end of the term and I expect better than half-hearted attempts.” She glared at James and Sirius at this comment. “Here are the partners.”

James and Sirius glanced at each other nervously. This was bad news when Professor Sonetra picked partners for them, especially as their lesson was doubled with the Slytherins. There was no way they would be happy with their partner.

Professor Sonetra read off a list. “Black, Snape.” Sirius groaned and hit his head – hard – on his desk repeatedly.

“Roysen, Pettigrew.” Breanna glanced nervously at Remus, the person sitting beside her at the moment. Peter was not the person you wanted to get paired with on a long-term assignment, as he wasn’t exactly the brightest person there was. It wasn’t that he didn’t try, he just wasn’t that smart.

“Lupin, Rosier.” Remus did the same exact thing as Sirius did, though much more quietly.

“Figg, Trafel.” Bella looked around, white-faced. If there were anyone she’d rather do the project with rather than Narcissa Trafel, it was Snape – but that went for everyone in Gryffindor anyway.

“Lestrange, Crabbe.”

Lily leaned over to Bella. “Sure, she pairs the Slytherins with who they want.

“Parkinson, Charon.” Lily rolled her eyes again. The two Slytherins were going out and bound to be married the minute they left school.

“Potter, Evans.”

Nearly every Gryffindor except for Lily and James groaned, finding that it was incredibly unfair that those two were always paired together.

James, on the other hand, could not believe his luck. It was definitely a pretty good advantage that Professor Sonetra had missed breakfast that morning.

“Now, move seats to sit next to your partner,” Professor Sonetra said.

There were two columns of desks with each row containing two desks with two desks in one column at the far back of the room. Mason Parkinson and Olive Charon chose the farthermost desk, just behind Sirius and Snape. Bella did not want to be stuck with no one so she picked the seat across the aisle from Sirius. Many thought it funny to see how Bella acted around Narcissa Trafel, her partner.

“If I’m going to be forced to work with you,” Bella said, extremely annoyed, “ _I_ get to pick the spot.”

Narcissa just stuck her nose into the air and sat down in the seat next to her.

James and Lily managed to catch a seat just in front of Sirius as Mark Lestrange and Terrence Goyle snatched the seats across from them. Remus sat down in front of James and Lily, leaving the last spot at the front of the classroom to go to Breanna and Peter. At least they were all still in the same vicinity.

Professor Sonetra smirked at many of the irked faces. “You may not move seats until nine weeks are up, as I already told you. You will start your research tomorrow during class, or you may start tonight if you wish. I would recommend starting tonight, but it’s your grade. After three weeks you will present and I will pick another topic for you to research. My expectations will be higher on your second project. After another three weeks, I will pick a third project for you to work on and it’s the same as before – essays and presentations.”

“So, you’re saying I have to work on _three_ projects with this scumbag?” Sirius asked, speaking up.

“Mr. Black, do not interrupt a teacher. And I do believe I said not to complain about your partners.” She smiled. “Detention. Tomorrow night, Mr. Black.”

James tried to hide his amusement at Sirius being punished, but, eventually, a smile broke out.

“Your final grades on your project will all be added together and will be worth forty percent of your end-of-term grades. Twenty percent on any homework I assign and forty percent from your tests.”

James and Lily glanced at each other nervously. And then Lily leaned over. “You’re top of the class, right?”

“At the moment I am. I don’t know what Sonetra will do to twist around our grades, but I hope it’s not too harsh.”

“Don’t bet on it.”

There was still five minutes left. Lily and James, knowing that Professor Sonetra would fail them if they did not give their all, began to map out their presentation already.

“And then, James, you’ll talk about how - ”

“What is going on here?”

The busy students looked up at their teacher. “What?”

“I asked what is going on here. You two are – you’re - ”

“Being civil to each other?” Sirius supplied, behind them.

And, breathless, Professor Sonetra nodded. “What happened? You two are supposed to be bickering!”

“Professor Sonetra,” Bella cut in with her most gossip-y voice she could manage without laughing. “Haven’t you heard? Lily and James are going out!”

Lily spun in her seat, facing Bella with a glare. “We’re not going out,” she hissed.

“Yes you are!” Sirius replied, smiling. “They’re in love, Professor Sonetra.”

“We are not!” James yelled, spinning in his seat as well to face Sirius instead.

Remus laughed. “Professor, they’re not going out – they’re just ‘friends’,” he said.

James and Lily both glared now at Remus for causing the whole class to laugh.

Naturally, Sonetra would have none of it. “Mr. Potter, switch with Mr. Lestrange.”

“But Professor, you said we weren’t supposed to switch partners at all in the next nine weeks,” Lily said.

“Yeah!” Sirius yelled.

“Ditto!” Bella added.

Remus, Breanna, and Peter were nodding their heads avidly, as were the two Slytherins who did not want to switch partners.

Professor Sonetra looked around at the class and huffed, walking to the front of the room. “Class dismissed,” she hissed, glaring at the class, disappointed.

The Gryffindors had to hold their breath until they left the room, when they would be free to laugh as loud as they wanted. Though Lily and James were the only ones that did not speak.

“Aw, c’mon!” Sirius said, thumping James on the back. “We were just joking! Don’t take it so harshly!”

James rolled his eyes. “Sure, Sirius.”

“Lily,” Bella begged, “talk to me! I didn’t mean to make you so angry. I don’t want us not talking to each other again like what happened a few days ago. It killed me to not be able to talk to you!”

“I’m not mad,” Lily said, grinning at Bella’s nervous manner. “I’m just angry for about ten minutes. And then after that I’ll forgive you and talk to you again. And everything will be fine.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “You’ve got this planned out already, do you?”

Lily laughed. “Ok, maybe I wasn’t right. I’m not mad anymore.”

The girls all began to laugh hysterically. The Marauders, in the meantime, all stared in confusion at the way the girls acted together.

“All right, then,” James muttered to himself, ruffling his hair.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* Later *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

The girls managed to stifle their laughter for the rest of the passing time. The group of Gryffindors pretty much tagged together the whole day traveling from Divination to lunch, from Arithmancy to Astronomy. Although Bella, Sirius, and Peter had Care of Magical Creatures while the rest had Astronomy.

Dinner passed without a hitch. The four house tables left the Great Hall without any skirmishes between the Marauders and the Slytherins.

James and Lily worked on their Defense against the Dark Arts assignment in the Gryffindor common room, reading through every book on leithfolds they had in their possession. Breanna attempted to research as well, but Peter did not seem to be helping much as he was complaining about a paper cut and had left to go to the nurse’s office when they had just begun. Remus and Bella tried finishing other homework for different classes, but Sirius – determined on not doing any homework until the absolute last minute – tried to distract others. But whenever that did not work out, he would try to make whomever he could laugh at any of his jokes or pranks on innocent people.

The students of Gryffindor tower left to head off to bed at a pretty reasonable time. There were no disturbances. Although, at eleven forty-five, four boys were creeping down from the sixth-year dormitories and sneaking up the girls’ dormitories.

Sirius, nearly as flexible as a monkey, had figured out a way to creep up the girls’ staircase without having the slide on the staircase activated because of a boy’s entrance. With the help of Remus and James, they managed to lift him up onto the hand railings and he managed to edge, with his feet on one side and his hands on the other, up to the sixth years’ dormitory.

Careful not to touch the floor, Sirius managed to knock quickly without falling. After a minute or so, Lily answered the door.

“Sirius – what – Bella!” she called in the room. “Your boyfriend is really strange, I hope you know.”

Bella poked her face around the door. “Hullo, Sirius. Come in.”

Sirius, now red in the face, managed to jump inside of their room without touching the floor in the hallway. He took a few moments to breathe. Hey – it was six flights up to their room! You didn’t think it was going to be _that_ easy, did you? “Are you guys ready to go to the Midnight Buffet?”

“Hold on!” Breanna called from the bathroom.

Lily and Bella smirked at each other and Sirius looked around, clueless. “What?” he asked.

“I believe Breanna fancies somebody,” Lily said, making sure Breanna could overhear.

“I do not!” she yelled indignantly.

“Oh?” Bella asked. “Then why are you fixing up your hair when we’re only going to see house elves?”

There was no response. The two girls giggled.

“Are you quite finished _yet?_ ” Sirius asked, bored.

“Ok, I’m done, now.” Breanna stepped out of the bathroom, looking as she did earlier, though with more make-up on than Lily and Bella had – which was none.

Sirius rolled his eyes. _Girls sure do take forever to get ready._ “Now, would you like to walk down the steps, or go down the fun way?” he asked, grinning devilishly.

Bella gave a half smile. “I’m thinking it will be the ‘fun way’ whether we want it or not.”

“You betcha,” Sirius said. “Just be prepared, once you reach the landing, to run straight for the portrait, alright?” He opened the door and stomped with one foot on the floor and automatically a slide to the bottom was created. Not only that, but a loud screeching noise began to fill the echo-y silence. He turned around and grinned. “Go!”

“Yes!” Lily said, and slid down the stairs to the bottom where a crash sounded.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

He could not believe his day. First he got to spend about twenty minutes alone with Lily before class, he got to witness her break up with Diggory, and now she was lying on top of him. And it was all thanks to Sirius and the shrieking slide he had created.

James’ heartbeat raced as Lily stared into his eyes for a quick second. It felt like an eternity to James, gazing into her gorgeous eyes, but she had still crawled off of him almost too soon after that.

“Sorry, James,” she said, a grin plastered across her face and eyes shining in excitement. “I lost my balance toward the end, there. Good thing you were there to catch me!”

James smiled, still lying down on the ground. “Yeah, good thing.”

Remus stared down at his friend, sprawled on the ground. James stared at the ceiling, motionless. “Prongs?” he mumbled, leaning over him. “Are you gonna get up any time soon? The staircase is shrieking, and we’re bound to be caught by McGonagall at any minute if you stay there.”

James seemed to come to his senses. “Oh, yeah – sorry.”

Remus nodded and smiled, knowingly.

Breanna, Bella, and Sirius managed to slide down the stairs without any collisions. As doors began to slam open, the pack of seven ran out of the common room – extremely brave without an invisibility cloak – and managed to make it down to the kitchen without any mishaps. Unless, of course, you call Peter running into a suit of armor, which he always did, a mishap.

“Ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, children and old geezers; I give you the Midnight Buffet!” Sirius said enthusiastically, earning grins from others.

Sirius tickled the pear and entered the room, revealing the four house tables as they normally stood and house elves busying themselves, running back and forth. Although one table, the Gryffindor table, was not empty. In the middle were four plates, and on both ends were endless lines of trays and platters of food.

Sirius walked swiftly over to the same elf he’d seen the day before, Narsy. “Hello, there, Narsy! Glad you got our letter this morning with our change of plans. We also have one other small change. As you can see, we invited these lovely ladies to dine with us tonight as well. Do you mind setting up three more spots so they could sit here too?”

Narsy’s head bobbed up and down. “Yes, Mr. Black,” she said. And then a look of pure horror fell over her face. “I is needing to make more food, then. Oh no! Mr. Black is needing to forgive Narsy, because Narsy is not prepared! Narsy is a bad house elf! Oh dear…” The elf began to turn to cook more when Sirius grabbed his arm.

“Narsy, it’s ok. I think we’ll manage.” He grinned at Bella from behind him and she covered her hand with her mouth, trying, but failing, not to laugh.

Narsy seemed to exhale a large amount of air. “Narsy is thanking Mr. Black very much! Anything Mr. Black is needing now?”

Sirius shook his head. “Just the plates and we’ll be fine.”

“Yes, sir!”

Sirius turned around as the elf left and guided the girls to the table where three more plates were already added. “Bella,” he said, guiding her to her seat next to his normal one.

“Thank you, kind sir,” she replied, smiling deviously.

“You are welcome, my damsel in distress,” Sirius said.

“Excuse me?” Bella cut in, losing her medieval voicing. “I’m not a damsel in distress!” she protested.

Sirius shrugged. “It’s the best I could come up with at the moment.”

“Well, what about My Lady? Or good maiden or something?”

Sirius eyed Bella and glanced over at James, who was just barely managing to hold his laughter in. “We _were_ pretending, right?”

“Yes, but that’s not the point!”

“Bella,” Lily cut in, “I think we’re finished with this conversation now, all right?”

Bella huffed and crossed her arms. “Fine, then.”

Remus shook his head and guided the other ladies down. “Now, I normally sit here and James sits there and Peter sits over there. You can pick your seats however you want.”

They ended up sitting in the same exact spots as breakfast – and lunch – and dinner. Which wasn’t all that much of a surprise.

“Now,” Sirius said in the politest manner he could make, “I think it would be the men’s duty to get the ladies’ food and drinks.”

“Uh-uh!” Lily cut in. “If you pick our food, then we pick yours.”

James shrugged, smiling. “I think that’s fair. And plus – I have faith in you ladies to pick out tasteful food items for us.”

Lily nodded. “I’m glad you can trust us! Now, hand over your plates, if you will.”

“And the same for us,” James said, picking up Lily’s plate and standing. “We’ll be on this half of the table, you three go that way.”

“All right, then,” Breanna said and picked up Remus’ plate.

The groups split and picked out various food items. The Marauders were the first to finish, waiting for the ladies to come back and see what they had picked out for them.

Breanna was the first one back. “Cockroach Clusters? Ew! Aw, but you remembered the Bertie Botts’ Every Flavor Beans! And Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pastries, and Cauldron Cakes – yum!” She leafed through the items on her plate. It looked like a pretty junky meal, but pretty good all the same! The other two plates in Bella’s and Lily’s spots had the same food items on them. She had to admit, they did a pretty good job picking what they liked. Boy, were they in for a surprise…

Lily and Bella returned with the rest of the plates.

“Ok,” James said, rubbing his hands together, anticipating what was on his plate. “What’d you get us?”

The girls grinned and set the plates down. The boys’ jaws dropped straight to the ground.

On their plates were apples, bananas, grape bunches, and carrots that covered the surface of the golden plates.

“ _What?!?_ ” Sirius yelled, shocked.

“Sirius, darlin’,” Bella said, sitting down in front of her plate of goodies, “you need to watch your weight.” She patted his stomach a few times and then dug into her own plate of food.

“Oh my God!” Sirius stood up and began looking at his profile. “Why didn’t you guys tell me I looked fat?!?” he shrieked in a girly voice.

The table erupted in laughter.

“I’m serious!” he yelled over the hoots of laughter. “Do these pants make my butt look big?”

This was a mistake to say in Sirius’ case. Bella had completely lost it and fell over the back of the chair just as Sirius had done earlier at breakfast. He immediately ran to her aid.

“Bella, are you ok? C’mon, speak to me!”

But she couldn’t. Because she was laughing too hard to even breathe, much less speak properly.

“Oy vay,” he muttered and sat back in his seat, picking up a carrot and chomping down on it.

There was conversation for nearly an hour and a refill on candy and food – this time where the owners of the plate went to get food. But at one in the morning, Remus put his foot down.

“I won’t be able to focus at all in class if we don’t get to bed.”

“I agree,” Breanna piped up.

“Oh boy,” James sighed. “I think we have two Remus’ on our hands now.”

“Aw man!” Sirius complained. “That means there’s no way I’ll be able to skip any classes anymore.”

Remus chuckled. “Good night, everyone.”

Breanna followed him out of the kitchen.

Bella nodded, suppressing a yawn. “Yeah, we should really get to bed. Coming?”

“I’ll be there in a minute,” Lily said.

Sirius stood as well. “See ya, Prongs.”

“Night, Padfoot.”

And again, the door slammed shut.

“You sure have some interesting names for each other,” Lily commented.

James nodded. “Yep, we do.”

“James, there’s something I wanted to ask you.”

“I figured that,” he said, smiling at her.

“I didn’t have a chance to ask this morning. But what exactly was Peter about to say this morning?” Lily asked.

“Oh.” James tore his eyes away from Lily and paled a bit. “I-it was nothing.”

“Nothing? Sure, James. And Bella doesn’t like Sirius. _Tell_ me!” she complained, tugging on his sleeve.

“Lily, I – no, I can’t tell you,” he managed to say.

“Why not?” Lily questioned further.

James looked as if he had aged several years. “You have to trust me. It’s something I can’t tell you now, but maybe sometime in the future, all right?”

Lily’s eyebrows knitted together and she seemed to be thinking. “I guess. But – oh, never mind.”

James smiled, gratefully. “Thanks, Lily.”

“For what?” she teased.

James just shook his head in wonder at her and watched as she departed, waving.

_Damn it, she’s beautiful._

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

Breanna and Remus walked in silence. Neither said anything, which was all right with them. Nothing needed to really be said at the moment, so why bother saying anything at all?

But they eventually ended up at the portrait sooner or later.

They faced each other.

“So, uh – I had a fun time tonight,” Breanna supplied.

“Yeah, it was loads of fun. You’ll have to join us next week too.”

“Sure,” she said. And then grinned. “It wasn’t my idea to put all of those vegetables and health foods on your plates.”

Remus smiled back. “I actually had a thought that you all would do something bad to us.”

“Oh, Remmie!” she joked, using her pet name for him. “If I had known that you would get us candy and goodies, we wouldn’t have done that!”

They laughed. And the corridors became eerily silent once again.

“So, I’ll see you tomorrow, then?” Breanna asked.

“Absolutely!” Remus replied, enthusiastically.

“Alright. Er – see ya!”

She waved at him and stepped into the Gryffindor common room.

And Remus just stared after her in awe.

_Damn it, she’s beautiful._

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Bella hopped down the hallway, laughing and not caring about being out at one in the morning.

“Bella,” Sirius whispered. “You do realize that if we’re caught, we could lose some serious house points, don’t you?”

Bella giggled all the more, bumping into Sirius. “I know that, silly!”

Sirius laughed along with her. It was almost as if she were contagious to him. When she was happy, he was too. When she was sad, he was too. And now she was in a carefree mood – so was Sirius.

In a sudden movement, Bella began to spin and dance as if she were a ballerina.

“I always wanted to be a dancer,” she said, spinning around on the tops of her toes and then falling delicately into Sirius’ arms. He hovered over her face, grinning.

“You’re lucky I was here,” he said.

Bella wrapped her arms around his neck and grinned back.

“Yes, I am lucky you’re here.”

Their smiles were dropped and an air of seriousness showered over them.

Bella, the first to come back to her conscious state, managed to stand on her own feet again. She smiled and spun off down the hall, leaving Sirius to gaze after her.

_Damn it, she’s beautiful._

**Author's Note: Aw, cheesy... :D Sometimes, you just gotta love it... Haha!**

**Next Chapter: A first date for two of our characters, and a few new problems arise concerning two OTHER characters... I won't reveal who or what happens (it'd totally ruin the chapter...), but I can tell you the story is no longer just fluff!**

**Thanks for reviewing!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	13. Kisses amid Other Things

**Chapter Thirteen: Kisses amid Other Things**

“Gerroff, Moony! I need my beauty sleep,” Sirius mumbled as he had the morning before, shielding his face from the blinding light with a pillow.

James walked out of the bathroom with a toothbrush in his mouth.

“Pafoo! Et uhp!” he hollered, flecks of spit shooting at Remus and Sirius.

Remus raised his eyebrows at James. And, with large amounts of drama, wiped his face clean. “I beg your pardon – I didn’t quite catch that. Could you repeat it again _without_ the toothbrush in your mouth this time?”

James narrowed his eyes, walking to the sink to spit any excess toothpaste out of his mouth.

“Sirius,” James said clearly, opening the door that led down to the common room, ready to run, “There will never be enough sleep in the world to fix your beauty!”

James bolted out of the room just before Sirius shot straight out of bed. “Get back here, James!”

Laughing, James ran downstairs. He hopped gracefully up and over the couch while Sirius, on the other hand, managed the “up” part but didn’t quite make it over on his feet. He _did_ , however, manage to gain some ground as James wasted precious time laughing at him.

“Hullo, James, Sirius,” Lily said as they ran around the chair she sat in.

“Hi, Lily – bit busy now…” James panted. He managed to get Sirius on one side of Lily’s chair and himself on the opposite side, behind her.

Lily pulled up her feet carefully so they wouldn’t get trampled on by Sirius, who seemed to have only one target.

“Look, there’s Bella!” James shouted, pointing at the girls’ staircase.

Sirius spun.

James used this time to run out of the common room and, presumably, to the Great Hall.

Lily laughed as hard as she could, clutching her side.

Sirius glared at her and flopped onto the couch, crossing his arms. It was then, though, that he realized all he had on was flannel pants and no shirt. Several younger girls were staring avidly at his bare chest.

Slightly embarrassed, Sirius walked back to get dressed, only to come back down with Remus and Peter behind him.

Lily continued laughing for several minutes afterwards with an odd chuckle when you’d least expect it, as they waited for the other girls to come downstairs.

Not more than five minutes later, Bella skipped down the steps.

“You know,” she said, “I think I’d rather slide down.”

Breanna ran down after her. “I think I’d have to agree with you there, Bella!”

They laughed and left to the Great Hall. Sure enough, James was already sitting down, eating.

Sirius, taking advantage of the distraction, now hit him in the back of the head. But he hit him a bit harder than planned – or did he? Because James’ head was thrown forward and landed in the plate of food.

What a sight it was.

He sat back up, revealing scrambled eggs all over his face. A few had also fallen down his shirt in the process.

James stood up and began dancing around, attempting to rid his shirt of eggs.

Apparently, the eggs were still _very_ hot.

Lily couldn’t handle much more laughter. Tears of mirth ran down the side of her face. She sat down in James’ place and rested her elbow on the table. But it didn’t land on the table – it fell in his plate of eggs.

If anything, this just caused Lily to laugh harder.

Things wound down a bit afterwards. Everyone found their spots and began eating just as the mail arrived.

The Daily Prophet dropped on the table in front of James. He paid the owl for the newspaper everyday. Normally, that was the only piece of mail in front of the Marauders.

James unraveled the newspaper. One glance at the headline and his face paled. He swallowed hard.

“Shit.”

Lily looked over at James’ disbelieving face. “What? What is it?”

James ran a shaky hand through his hair and began reading aloud.

“‘On January 6th, there was an attack at the Ministry of Magic. Due to this unfortunate and unexpected attack, stricter security will be enforced in the Department of - ’ ”

“James, hurry up! Was anyone hurt?”

James scanned through the article and quoted a few lines. “‘Twelve Ministry workers were reported dead at the scene of the crime and three missing.’ And there’s a list here. James read down the column of people who died. “No one I know. And - ” James stopped in mid-sentence, shaking. “ ‘The three people missing are as follows: Gabriella Starnmen, Charles Roysen, and Cecilia Roysen.’ ”

There was a silence so deafening, Lily was almost about to cover her ears from the noise. And it wasn’t only from their table but the others as well.

Several people watched Breanna’s expression to this news. She seemed to be the only person whom this attack had affected personally, and she seemed to be taking it surprisingly well.

It looked as if it took all of the strength she had to swallow and speak. “So, Voldemort attacked last night and my parents are either held hostage or dead.” She nodded a few times, trying to act as if everything were fine, as she had said.

She carefully picked up her glass of milk and sipped it daintily. But after the bittersweet taste drained down the back of her throat, Breanna dropped the glass on the floor, shattering the silence, as well as the glass, and sobbed into her hands.

Remus wrapped his arms securely around Breanna, allowing her to cry freely into his shirt.

Both Bella and Lily teared up a bit as well, wiping tears from their eyes and refusing any help from Sirius or James.

Standing up, Remus helped Breanna to the Hospital Wing.

Sirius looked around helplessly. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked, quietly.

James cast him a look that specifically told him not to speak – and Sirius obeyed without another thought.

“I can’t believe it,” Bella whispered through her tears. “They were probably just working late a-and…” she stopped speaking.

Lily nodded, silent tears rolling down her face.

James noticed this and began to wipe them away with the pad of his thumb, but Lily swiped his hand away from her.

“I can handle this myself, James,” she said, hurriedly wiping her face with the back of her hand.

James sat back, hurt. “Alright,” he muttered, quietly.

Lily didn’t move, feeling guilty all of a sudden. He was only trying to help. “James, I’m sorry. I just – well, first my parents and now, most likely, Breanna’s and I feel like everything’s caving in on me now! I feel so – so – _helpless!_ ”

James nodded, picking up his book bag and swinging it over his shoulder. “I understand. I don’t have to take care of you like you’re a child. I-I’m just going to go. I’ll see you all later.”

With a quick glance at the newspaper, he took off.

“Lily,” Sirius said from across the table. She glanced at him, looking a bit cold and frightened. “He really cares for you. I’d be careful about what you might say. He takes a lot of things personally, especially with his good friends.”

Slowly, Lily nodded. “Thanks. I’ll remember that. I should apologize or something. I didn’t mean to get him angry.”

“Lily, just go talk to him before class. It’s no big deal,” Bella said.

“You’re – you’re sure?”

“Positive,” Sirius replied, smiling kindly.

Lily nodded and smiled as well. “Am I overreacting?” “Yes, Lily, you are,” Bella said without a hitch, “but that’s just what happens when you’re in love,” she joked.

Lily chuckled. “Oh, hush,” she muttered.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“Breanna, come on. Just have Madame Pomfrey clear up your face a bit. She won’t ask questions, I promise.”

Remus attempted to pull Breanna to the Hospital Wing, but she wouldn’t budge from her chair in the back of the library.

“No, Remus, I’m fine! Really, just - ” she wiped her eyes and began searching for something else to talk about. “Have you read a good book recently?”

“What? Breanna, listen - ”

“Remus! I have to get my mind on something else. Please,” she begged. “Help me.”

Tears pricked up in her eyes and Remus gave in. “Ok, something to distract you.”

“Yes. Anything.”

Remus paused. “A-anything?”

“Anything at all.”

Well, there _was_ something he had been screaming at himself to tell her, but never could. Now was his chance. “Alright, but first you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone else.”

She rolled her eyes, the old Breanna coming back. “You’ve known me for years. Have I ever slipped to anyone that I was secretly friends with you? Seriously, Remus, think about what you just said.”

He smiled and shook his head. “I guess not. Ok. Uh, here goes. I, uh – Breanna, I’m - ”

“Remus, relax. Whatever your, er, secret – it’s safe with me.” She placed her hand on his arm, gently, giving him confidence.

He blushed slightly. “Breanna, I’m not really sick when I say I am. And I’m not really home taking care of my mother either.”

She nodded, giving him a slight questioning look. “So, where were you?”

Remus swallowed. Maybe he shouldn’t tell her. It could ruin all chances he ever had with her in the first place. She could be angry with him for not telling her sooner!

Sure, it could. But _would_ that really happen?

“Breanna, I’m a werewolf.”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Remus gaped at her. “Did you hear me correctly?”

“Yes, Remus, I did, a-and, to tell you the truth, I sort-of _already_ knew.”

“You – _what?_ ” Remus’ look of astonishment did not change one bit. “How?”

Breanna sighed, the look of sorrow disappearing briefly from her face. “I had my suspicions. I mean, did you really expect me to believe that you left once a month – _every_ month? I’m not as stupid as I look.”

Remus’ look of astonishment dropped, he took on a look of seriousness. “You could’ve fooled me.”

“Remus!”

“I’m joking,” he said, chuckling softly. His eyes were focused on his hands.

No one spoke.

Bravely, Remus turned his gaze upward, staring deeply into Breanna’s hazel eyes.

She swallowed. He had never looked at her like this before.

“Breanna, there’s one other thing that you don’t know.”

“Yes?” she whispered, barely managing to get the words out, focusing on his face, merely inches from her own.

And with little warning, he leaned in, securing a place for his lips on top of hers.

For a moment, Breanna didn’t know how to react. But soon, a feeling of want surged through her veins and she put her hands on the back of his head, urging him to close what space remained between the two.

Remus’ reaction had been very similar to that of hers, shocked by his own braveness. But as she pulled him closer, his nerves inside of him seemed to vanish completely and, gently, he deepened the kiss, heart racing.

Reluctantly, they broke apart, slightly red in the face and breathing like they’d run a marathon.

“Well,” Breanna whispered, smiling, “I can’t say I was really expecting that bit of information.”

“I’ve been waiting since day one to kiss you,” Remus whispered back, gazing intently back into her eyes. “I’ve had to hold back for six, incredibly long years.”

“I’m glad you didn’t hold back any longer. I wouldn’t have been able to stand it myself.”

And with that said, Remus pulled Breanna carefully onto his lap, stroking her cheek absent-mindedly. “So, are we ‘official’?” he asked, grinning up at her.

She nodded and craned her neck, losing herself in another breathtaking kiss.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“James?” Lily asked quietly. “Can I, uh, sit here?”

James shrugged and moved his bag that had been in the seat next to him.

Lily slid into the chair. “I’m sorry, James. I didn’t mean to snap at you this morning.”

“Whatever,” he muttered, folding his arms across his muscular chest that Lily seemed to be noticing more now than before.

“I was just feeling overwhelmed,” she explained, turning in her chair to face him.

He shrugged again, looking at the opposite end of the classroom.

“James,” she pleaded, tears sounding evident in her soft voice, “I’ll be sad at points in my life – sometimes thinking I don’t need anyone – but, truth is, I _do_ need someone. I want you to be by my side through everything. Please,” Lily whispered, “James, look at me.”

Silently, James turned back to Lily. He raised a hand and brushed away the tears, just as he had earlier, although this time she let him finish his job.

He smiled at her. “I’ll be there, Lily. Through thick and thin.”

She smiled back through her watery eyes and reached for his hand, giving it a small squeeze.

“Thank you.”

“For what?” he asked, laughing, trying to ignore the pleasant feeling creeping up his arm from her soft touch.

Lily laughed as well, sitting back and thinking about how lucky she was to have James with her.

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* Later *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

“James! You there? Come on, Prongs, buddy, where are you?”

James scrambled up, flinging open the trunk that he was resting on. Breanna, sitting wrapped in Remus’ arms on his bed, followed James as he threw the trunk open.

“Damn it. Where’s that mirror?” He tossed objects around the dormitory, obviously searching for something important.

Lily, leaning against James’ trunk as well, had moved away, a bit frightened from his sudden movements, and Bella was leaning on Sirius’ trunk next to Lily, laughing softly.

“Ah,” he said, sounding relieved. “Found it. Sirius, you still there?” James questioned, sitting back next to Lily and looking at the mirror.

“Yeah, I’m here,” Sirius’ voice responded, echoing throughout the crowded room. “Where were you? You told me that you’d have the mirror, waiting for me!”

“Well, your detention started over an hour ago! I thought you had forgotten about us!”

Sirius made an obvious sound of annoyance. “Professor Sonetra was watching me the whole time! She finally left, but it’s only a matter of time until she comes back.”

“What’s your punishment?” Bella asked. She climbed onto James’ bed, leaning over his and Lily’s shoulder, at the mirror.

“She’s got me cleaning a mess in the Potions room – _without_ magic. Professor Crayzl was all soft on the girl whose seventeenth cauldron exploded this year and he didn’t make her clean it! I swear, that Potions teacher is too soft for his own good. It was holding some acid type concoction. But, anyway, I’m stuck cleaning the dungeon, because that girl got away with this mess.”

“At least it’s not bed pans again,” Remus supplied, hopefully, at the other end of the room.

Breanna laughed and snuggled deeper into Remus’ chest, smiling, and lacing her fingers through his.

Lily rolled her eyes and snatched the mirror from James’ hands. “Sirius, you better finish that quick and get up here soon. Those two are starting to make me sick to the stomach,” she joked, pointing an accusing finger at the couple Sirius couldn’t see, but knew about. “We’ve tried everything to get them to take a break from each other and nothing’s working!”

“Did you try Operation House Elf?”

“We – what?” Lily looked next to her at James to see if he had any idea what this code that Sirius was speaking of was. He nodded his head.

“Yeah, we did that one,” Lily said, looking back at Sirius. “I think.”

“How about Code Seven?”

Another nod from James. “Yeah, I guess that’s another one we’ve tried,” Lily said.

Sirius raised an eyebrow, thoughtfully. “Tent one-oh-one? The Library Maneuver? Orange Duck?”

Lily didn’t even bother asking what any of this nonsense meant. It would probably be better for her sanity that way. “Did it, did it, did it,” James said, ruffling his hair.

Remus stuck his tongue out at James and Lily in a childish manner. “We defeat all Marauder plans!” he said, hugging Breanna tighter.

“Yeah, well you came up with half of them!” James pointed out, a small smile crawling onto his lips.

“My point exactly,” Remus said, grinning.

Sirius sighed, audible through the mirror – and stopped in the middle of it. “Shit,” he whispered. There was a ruffling noise and the next thing Lily saw was the inside threading of Sirius’ shirt.

No one in the room said a thing as a door, from Sirius’ end, not theirs, creaked open.

“Mr. Black, how are we coming along here?” It was Professor Sonetra. “Tut, tut… Barely a dent from when I last left. At this rate, you could be here well into tomorrow.”

Heels clicked along the floor. “Yes, you’ll be here until midnight at the least, I say. Not even halfway done, I - ”

She didn’t finish her sentence. There was a soft, strangled noise. “M-Mr. Black – finish your d-detention. Go back to your dormitory when you’re d-done.” A swooshing sound, more heels clicking, a slam of the door, and Sirius pulled out the mirror again.

“Did you see the way she was _acting_ just now?”

Lily rolled her eyes. “Of _course_ , Sirius! We saw everythingthrough your _shirt_ ,” she said, sarcastically.

Sirius stuck his nose straight up in the air. “Well, you don’t have to snap at me about it! I just won’t tell you then.”

“Sirius,” Bella complained, stealing the mirror from Lily and bringing it to the spot just in front of his school trunk, “what did Sonetra do?”

He didn’t move for a minute, obviously thinking something over and then spoke. “She walked in all high and mighty, you know, like she always does, but just then – I don’t know how to explain it. Like she was all of a sudden some coward. And she was holding her arm, like it was burning or something.”

“B – _Burning_?” Breanna piped up, looking away from Remus for the first time in hours. “On her arm?”

“Yeah,” Sirius said. He pulled out his wand.

“Sirius, what on earth do you think you’re doing?” Bella shrieked. “You’re not supposed to use your wand!”

“Breanna,” Remus whispered, looking down at her, concerned. “You all right? What is it, sweetie?”

She was breathing very fast now, hand on her chest.

“Come on, what’s wrong? Breanna!” He shook her shoulder now and she seemed to jump back into reality.

“She – I - ” Breanna stood up abruptly and grabbed the mirror. “Sirius – get up here. I have something I need to tell you.” She glanced around the room as well. “To tell you all.”

Sirius nodded and started to run up to the dormitory. Not even a minute passed and Sirius was back in the dormitory, breathing heavily. “What – is – it?” he panted.

Breanna had managed to calm down a bit in the time it took Sirius to run up to the room. “Professor Sonetra – she’s a Death Eater!”

“She’s a – a what? What’s a, uh, Death Eater?” Lily asked, looking around the room confusedly.

“Death Eater,” James said, quietly, on the other side of Lily. His arms were wrapped tightly around his knees, chin resting on top. “They’re the other things, aside from Voldemort, of course, that you would never want to meet. His most faithful supporters,” James summed up, staring out of the window in deep thought, apparently.

“Wait a minute,” Sirius cut in, joining Bella on the floor next to the trunk she was leaning against, “how do you know Sonetra’s a Death Eater? Just because her arm hurt?”

“Every Death Eater has the Dark Mark inscribed on their skin, given by Voldemort himself once they join his ranks.”

“So, it just started hurting now for no reason whatsoever?” Lily asked, trying to absorb all of this information at once.

“You see, that’s just the thing. It burns. Not just at anytime, though. When it burns, Voldemort is _calling_ them. And it is then that most destruction is caused in the world.”

“And how, pray tell, do you know all of this?” Bella asked, astonished by Breanna’s knowledge of the dark side.

“My - ” she stopped, looking down at her hands again. “T-they told me. They fought the Death Eaters a lot at the Ministry.”

No one said anything, knowing exactly whom Breanna was talking about – her parents.

Lily looked over at James. He was rocking back and forth, eyes scrunched up as if he were in immense pain. His knuckles had turned white from gripping at his legs around him so hard. And then, without warning, he let go of himself and tossed up his dinner on the floor.

Lily pulled out her wand immediately, cleaned the mess as quick as she could, and dragged James out of the room without a second thought about it. “We’re going to the Hospital Wing,” she told the others, shutting the door behind her.

James stumbled down the steps, clutching onto anything he could so that he would not to fall down flat on his face. Lily was one of the most common things he held onto so he wouldn’t lose his balance. But once they reached the common room, James threw himself on the couch, holding his stomach and keeping his eyes clamped shut, which obviously didn’t help walking down the stairs.

A few second years, the only ones left in the room, glanced up from their last minute homework and wandered over, curious.

“Who’s that?” a boy asked, trying to peek over the side of the couch.

“Get to your dormitories,” Lily said in a deadly calm voice, shooting sparks out of her wand at his feet. The other second years stopped walking, unable to see who was lying on the couch.

“Whoa, we just wanna know what - ” another started, but Lily cut him off.

“Ten points from Gryffindor for disobeying a Prefect. Get to your dormitories,” Lily hissed, “now.”

They scurried from her, afraid of what she might do next. She heard a few doors slam closed.

“James?” Lily whispered, shaking him slightly. “Wake up.”

She knew this would have no affect whatsoever on him. And it didn’t, for he just continued rolling around on the couch.

And then he rolled to the side, hurling once again.

He didn’t move this time, lying perfectly still. Lily could see small beads of sweat running down the side of his face, eyes still closed, though not as tight as they had been earlier.

“James?” Lily whispered, tentatively. “Are – are you all right?”

He shocked her by pulling out his own wand and cleaning his vomit, sitting straight, breathing hard. Lily looked up into his blue eyes. There were tears forming. “Lily,” he croaked out, his voice hoarse as if he hadn’t used it in a century. “I could see them. _Everyone._ Even her parents.”

“James, slow down. One detail at a time. Now, what did you see?” she asked, half of her wanting to know the answer, the other half dreading it just as much.

“I saw Voldemort. And the Death Eaters. A-and Professor Sonetra.”

Lily was confused. “But, how could you? You said your – er - ” Lily lowered her voice even though it seemed like none were around to hear her – “ _gift_ was to know when danger was near you.”

James swallowed, looking almost as confused as Lily. “Last night, I had a dream. But I found out this morning – it wasn’t a dream. It was real – all of it. I saw everything as I did now, but only fainter. With Voldemort and everyone!” He was saying this all fast as if Lily were about to break him off and say she didn’t believe him. “I knew it was him – I just knew somehow – but I couldn’t see his face. It wasn’t clear – no one’s was. And they broke into the Ministry – killed all the people as they said in the newspaper. My stomach hurt during the dream and when I woke up in the middle of the night, I had a headache. I was sure everything was a dream then. But this morning, my fears were all confirmed. And just now, the same thing happened. Though more vivid.”

He swallowed. “I think my so called ‘gift’ has expanded,” he told Lily, running a hand through his hair as he always did when he was nervous. Lily was beginning to like these small traits about him instead of loathe them like she used to. “Now that I’ve figured out at least part of my ‘gift’, my brain is understanding and letting the full ‘dark detector’ come straight at me and this ‘gift’ has sharpened. I know, not only when there’s something dark around me, Lily, but whenever there’s anything dark, _period!_ I can _see_ it.”

Lily stood up, walking around the room. “You can see it? You saw their little - ” Lily fumbled for the words – “ _gathering?_ ”

“I’d hardly say little, Lily,” James whispered, burying his face in his hands. “And I only saw the points where dark curses were used.”

“ _Used?_ ”

He nodded.

“James,” Lily spoke, sitting next to him on the couch, “what did you see?”

He swallowed, paling. “Sonetra. She spoke to Voldemort at the beginning. S-she told him how Bella and Breanna are my friends now. And he – he just grinned.”

Lily swallowed a lump in her throat. “Now their families will be endangered also?”

James nodded again. “I can’t believe it,” he mumbled, trying to hide his tears from Lily by wiping them on the back of his hands while his head was bent, facing away from her.

“It’s alright, James. Everything will - ”

“No, Lily,” he cut in softly. He swallowed. “That wasn’t all that happened. After she talked to Voldemort, he started to torture – to torture – Lily, he - ”

“He has Breanna’s parents, doesn’t he?” she asked, tears threatening to fall.

And slowly, for the third time, James nodded. “He wanted something from them. Voldemort used the Cruciatus Curse on her mum first. But she wouldn’t tell – s-so he, uh…”

Lily closed her eyes, letting the tears flow freely. “What about her dad?” she asked.

“Same thing.” James wrapped his arms around her slowly as she crumbled into him, sobbing. He let her cry everything out on his shoulder. “The vision ended there.” He pulled her closer as if to protect her from some unknown force.

“Come on, Lily,” he said, leaning away from her. “Wipe away those tears and let’s - ”

He froze and then curled into a ball again, backing from Lily, looking like a poor, defenseless child. James started to shake as he had before, eyes shut and sweat dripping from his face.

Doing some quick thinking, Lily ripped off the bottom piece of her school uniform and dabbed it on his face, wiping the sweat away.

_Please don’t make him suffer like this,_ she thought, worried for his health. _Let him have a normal teenage life while he can!_

As if her prayers were answered, James rolled off the couch, hands and knees on the floor, and had a coughing attack as if he had just been choked.

_At least he’s not throwing up,_ Lily thought, patting him gingerly on the back.

“What happened?” Lily asked, helping him up.

“That other woman, the one who was missing, she resisted. They killed her, too.”

Lily swore. “At least you’re not puking anymore,” she spoke, trying to fill the empty silence.

James shrugged, still pale in the face. “I think I’ll eventually get used to this ‘dark detector’ thing after something happens each time, and the pain won’t bother me as much anymore.”

Lily shook her head and stood up. “You shouldn’t have to get used to anything.”

James looked over at her quickly. “What do you mean?”

“I _mean_ , you shouldn’t have to be adjusting your life because of this stupid gift you’ve got!” Lily said, red in the face. “It’s not fair to you. You’re not even an adult yet!”

James shrugged. “Things happen and you can’t help them.”

“But you’re a _child!_ James, you shouldn’t have had your parents die at such a young age, Dumbledore shouldn’t have told you about your ancestors!”

James grabbed onto her shoulders, stopping her in mid-rant. “Lily. Stop.” He swallowed, feeling very aware of his hands which were still on her shoulders. “No, it’s not fair that things like this happened to me at such a young age, but I’ve learned to cope with them! I’ll be fine.”

“That’s just it, James!” she said, stepping away from him. “You shouldn’t _have_ to!”

“Look, I’ve got you guys as friends, I’m fine. As long as I have someone to rely on, I’ll be just as happy as the next person.”

“But, James!” she stopped and waved her hands around in the air, making a motion to stop. “Look, let’s just forget it. I’m sorry. Shall we join everyone else upstairs?” she asked, motioning toward the steps.

James nodded and walked slowly on shaky legs, slinging his arm around Lily’s neck, not trusting himself to walk without any help. “Don’t tell them anything.”

“I won’t,” she promised.

Before they even reached the stairs, however, five pairs of eyes met them.

“Hey,” Breanna said, “we were wondering if you forgot us!”

James and Lily each gave nervous laughs. “Madame Pomfrey – she gave me a – uh, pepper-up potion.”

“Yeah,” Lily agreed, quietly.

Sirius laughed. “Sure, Prongs. Then where’s the steam coming out of your ears?”

James looked at Lily quick, begging for her to help him out. “Oh, you caught us!” she said, laughing.

James froze, horror running through his veins. She wouldn’t tell them – would she? Especially after he had just told her not to!

“James decided he was fine once we reached the infirmary. But, as you can see,” she said, pointing to his arm around her neck, “he’s still finding it hard to walk. I think he just chickened out,” Lily laughed, pinching his cheek as if he were a small baby.

And James laughed along. Not only was he glad that Lily had covered for him, but he was starting to feel happier with her joking around. His mood seemed to lighten a bit.

“Anybody up for chess?” Remus asked, pulling out the chessboard and setting up the pieces.

“I’m in!” Sirius said, bounding over.

“Uh – I’ll just watch tonight. You know,” James said, patting his stomach, “I don’t want to ruin your chessboard or anything.”

The rest of the night was spent in silence except for the occasional, “Damn it!” from Sirius or “Yes!” from Remus. Breanna would cheer for Remus, Bella would laugh at Sirius goofing around, and Peter would watch from the sidelines, being the referee. Lily and James didn’t speak to each other, but sat together on the couch in a comfortable silence.

Every now and then, James would find himself watching Breanna, thinking of how bad her day tomorrow was going to be. Well, if they ended up finding her parents’ bodies, that is. _Enjoy it while you can,_ he thought, miserably.

James tore his eyes away, as he did each time, and began to feel guilty. He knew her parents were dead. But if he told her, she’d be suspicious as to how he even knew in the first place, and then everyone would ask questions. Lily was the only one who knew everything.

That, also, brought up another problem. If they found out he had told her first, they would feel left out at not being able to have been told first, especially Sirius and Remus, in this situation.

But for some reason, something deep underneath everything, beyond his mixed up thoughts, all of his trust now laid in Lily. He felt comfortable and at ease around her. It was a different feeling talking to Lily and telling her his worries and problems.

Of course, Remus or Sirius would have been able to do what Lily did and listen to his problems. But she was different – she gave feedback. Just today, James had said he would get used to this ‘gift’, and Lily told him how she felt about his ‘gift’. She spoke her mind around him, and not always what he wanted to hear. It was the truth.

Though, when it all came down to it, James had told Lily – his best friend for three days – his deepest secrets, some he hadn’t even told Sirius – his best friend for sixteen years. Lily was in the same situation as all of his _other_ friends; their family’s lives were in danger. But, still, James had told her first. Why?

He glanced over at Lily on the opposite end of the couch he sat on. She looked back at him and smiled kindly. His insides melted as he returned the gift.

_Well, that’s why,_ James answered himself, sarcastically, and sighed inwardly. _I must love her a hell of a lot._!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* Later *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

The next morning, the Daily Prophet came as usual. But no Ministry letter came, as both James and Lily had been expecting, for Breanna.

The morning was filled with James and Lily trying to speak about what had happened the night before – without actually speaking. And let me tell you, it was _not_ easy. The rest of the group, however, did not notice their odd glances to each other as they were watching Professor Sonetra throughout breakfast.

“I wish I knew what happened last night,” Sirius muttered, keeping his eyes on the laughing teacher. He scowled.

Breanna rolled her eyes and went back to her food. “Well, whatever it was, she sure is happy about it.”

James squirmed uncomfortably in his seat, running a hand through his hair.

The day passed, surprisingly enough, without much incident. Whenever someone mentioned something about Breanna’s parents or Voldemort in general, she would be in denial about everything, convincing herself that her parents must have escaped to somewhere unknown to others.

James even began to wonder whether what he’d seen was real or not. Maybe he could see into the future. James shuddered. The thought of having that kind-of power would overwhelm Lily more than James, most likely.

The group passed from class to class without anything unexpected. Of course, Peeves the Poltergeist managed to cause havoc among the third year students during their Transfiguration class, but that wasn’t as uncommon as one might think. It happened on a daily basis at the school of witchcraft and wizardry.

After dinner, Remus and Breanna had disappeared. It didn’t take a genius, though, to realize they wanted time _alone_. Even Peter understood without extra explanations as to why they had left without telling where they would be.

Bella and Sirius played chess twenty-nine times, Bella winning each and every time. But the only reason Sirius continued playing was that he was too stubborn to say he couldn’t beat a girl. Both Lily and James took much pleasure out of watching the pair argue fruitlessly. But, alas, on the twenty-fourth game, Bella was too tired of playing and purposely let him win.

By eleven, the sixth years, excluding Breanna and Remus, had finally gone to bed and Remus and Breanna strolled up to their separate dormitories, grins plastered on their faces.

“Moony,” James whispered as he walked in the silent room, “where have you been, young man?”

Remus chuckled. “That would be for me to know and you to – well, not to find out…”

James laughed. “Aw, Remus, what were you doing out with Breanna so late? Don’t make me owl your mother! She would _not_ be happy, goodness no…”

“Prongs, shut up.”

James huffed, indignantly. “I beg your pardon! And get that smile off of your face – you are in big trouble!”

Remus laughed again. “Good night, James. See you in the morning.”

James smiled and rolled over. “’Night.”

But James must’ve been too scared to sleep that night. He lay awake in bed until the crack of dawn, thinking over his recent discoveries. For example – he now knew when there was danger coming and what was happening. And another, he had realized how beautiful Lily had gotten since the beginning of their six year feud. The latter thought seemed to play in his mind a lot more than the first.

And due to his cramped thoughts, not a wink of sleep was left for him.

Friday arrived. Not many people were laughing anymore. The owl finally came. They had found Breanna’s parents. Dead.

She tore out of the Great Hall, ignoring Remus’ protests to wait for him. He ran after her.

Bella cried, as did Lily. But it didn’t come with as much of a shock for Lily as it did for Bella. James finally had his moment to comfort Lily and make up for two days before.

“This is beginning to become a daily ritual,” Lily whispered into his ear, so softly that only he could hear.

James melted, enjoying the feeling of her warm breath running down his neck. “What do you mean?” he whispered back, hugging her to him tightly.

“This crying deal.” Lily chuckled softly and buried her face in his shoulder. “Think about it. I’ve cried almost everyday since Monday. Honestly, I’m really getting sick and tired of it.”

James nodded, rubbing his hand up and down her back, comforting her. “I agree.”

“It’s just – everything is stupid,” she finally blurted out, heaving out a large sigh.

“Excuse me?” James asked, chuckling. “Everything is – _stupid?_ ”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, backing away from him now. “My parents died, and then Breanna’s parents, and now you - ” she pointed her finger at James, not speaking. “You know,” she finished, softly.

James nodded. “Yeah. I know.”

Breanna was found in the back of the library by Remus. The two, together, missed the morning classes entirely, something Remus would have, originally, never done, but at lunch, Breanna came out of her cocoon, eyes bloodshot and nose running. Nobody spoke of that morning.

Friday slowly turned into Saturday and both Bella and Sirius were bouncing off the walls, driving their roommates crazy. Literally.

“Bella, I swear, if you do not sit down right now, I will not help you prepare for your date tonight,” Lily yelled, angrily.

Bella immediately stopped jumping on her bed and sat down obediently. “Lily, how many times must I tell you, it’s _not_ a date?”

“Sure,” Breanna mumbled from the other side of the room, playing with her bed sheets. “And Remus and I hate each other.”

Bella stuck her tongue out in a childish manner, not daring to say anything more just in case she were to hurt Breanna by accident in any way. You never knew what could hurt someone when their emotions were running haywire.

“Bella, you’re going on a date tonight.”

“It’s not a date!” she protested, throwing her arms into the air.

“Well, we’ll see what you’re thinking after tonight,” Lily said, smiling. “Oh, look,” she said, making a big deal out of checking the time, “It’s almost noon.”

Bella took a pillow and buried her face into it. “Five hours!” she shrieked, repeatedly, giddy.

Lily and Breanna only needed one glance at each other in order to burst out in peals of laughter.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Guys,” Sirius whimpered, “what _exactly_ are you supposed to wear on a casual, but yet sort-of dressy outing?”

“Outing?” Remus laughed. “How about date?”

Sirius glared at Remus in response to his question. “I told you, she doesn’t like me _that_ way,” Sirius muttered, looking downcast.

“And _I_ told _you_ that she _does_ feel the same way you do!” James persisted, annoyed by Sirius’ comments. “Look, tonight, you just go, have fun, and relax!”

“And don’t spend all of your time in Quality Quidditch Supplies - ”

“Or at Zonko’s - ”

“Or in Honeydukes!”

Sirius was overwhelmed by these sudden outbursts and suggestions. “Um… All right…”

“Unless, of course, Bella wants to go there.”

Sirius scratched his head. “So only go to the places Bella wants to go?”

“Exactly,” James said, tossing a small rubber ball up and down.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

“Now, you can always wear a skirt with this blouse,” Lily said, pulling out an outfit.

“Lily – I don’t _care_ about what my outfit is – I need to know what I’m going to do with my hair! It’s so limp. Curls don’t work, and I can’t leave it down.”

Breanna grinned. “I know exactly what to do.”

She leaped off of her bed and out of her silent mood, and pushed Bella into a chair.

Lily smiled. “Now will you let me show you some outfits?”

Bella nodded, content.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

It was nearly four o’clock by this point, and Sirius was still panicking.

“So what am I supposed to say to her again?” he asked, nervous.

“Sirius,” Remus groaned, “we’ve already told you about seventy-two times. Plus, you’ve been out with nearly every girl in this school, why should this be any different?”

“Well,” Sirius confessed, “I never really _talked_ to them.”

James rolled his eyes, now tossing the same rubber ball at the wall repeatedly.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella bit on her lip, nervous. “So I’m supposed to act all giggly and laugh at nearly everything he says, even when it’s not even remotely funny?”

Lily nodded, lying on her bed with her elbows propping her up. Breanna had been working diligently on Bella’s hair, putting things up, pulling it back down, twisting it around, and finally, she pulled out a pair of scissors.

“Oh no you don’t, missy!” she exclaimed. “I am not letting anyone near my beautiful hair with a pair of those nasty things!”

“Relax, Bella! Just a few cuts here in the front and - ”

“No! A few cuts to you is like shaving me bald!”

“Oh, please!” Lily called, standing off of the bed. “It won’t be that bad!”

Breanna nodded avidly. “Just the front. It’ll look fine when your hair is down, too. I _promise_.”

Bella eyes darted back and forth between the two girls. “If you’re sure…”

Breanna squealed and jumped on it. She pulled a few strands from her hair down, and at each strand that was snipped, she closed her eyes, holding her breath, whimpering.

Finally she was done. “Take a look,” Breanna said, holding up a mirror to her face.

Bella gasped. Was that _her_ looking back in the mirror?

Her hair was braided at first and then Breanna had curled it around the source of hair, making it look like a bun on the back of her head. She then pulled pieces of the front of her hair down from each side, the pieces she had cut, adding the slightest curl to them.

“Jeez, Breanna,” Bella said, astonished, “have you ever thought about a career in hair styling?”

Breanna blushed and took this as a very large compliment. “Thanks.”

“Oh, no you don’t!” Bella said, throwing her arms around her. “Thank _you!_ ”

“Come on, now!” Lily urged, pushing her towards the door. “Don’t be late for you _date!_ ”

Bella glared at her again, but a smile managed to appear anyway. “Thanks,” she said.

“Go, Bella! It’s nearly five!” Breanna said, pushing her toward the door.

And slowly, Bella opened it. “Ready or not, here I come.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sirius was bouncing back and forth on his feet, juggling his weight from side to side, pretending as if he were a boxer warming up for his next match.

“Come on, Padfoot, you can do this,” James said, opening the door. “Don’t talk about sports, pranks, or anything she wouldn’t like. Compliment her as much as you can. And you should pay for all of her foods and drinks. You’re the gentleman here, Sirius.”

He froze for a moment, and then turned his gaze to the two boys, helplessly. “Guys – I don’t have any money.”

James rolled his eyes and stuffed a large amount of money from his own bag into Sirius’ hand. “I expect my money back before the end of the year.”

“Absolutely, Prongs,” he mumbled, looking at the generous gift. And then he tucked an item into his pocket.

James laughed. He knew he wouldn’t be getting any of his money back before they graduated. He never got any money back from Sirius. But he was his best friend.

Both Sirius and Bella went running down the steps at the same time, grinning broadly.

“Y-you, uh, you look beautiful.”

Bella blushed as his eyes roamed up and down her front. She had decided on wearing nice black pants with a simple T-shirt and a jacket to pull over, adding black high-heeled shoes. She topped it all off with the simple, one-diamond necklace he had bought her for her birthday. Really, all in all, she looked gorgeous.

She nodded back. “You do too.”

He smiled as she analyzed his outfit. He had chosen to wear a pair of black pants and a white button up shirt. _He cleans up pretty nice,_ Bella agreed.

“My lady,” Sirius said, holding out his arm to her.

She laughed shrilly and looped her arm around his, walking out of the door.

Giggles, that had once been quiet, now erupted in each staircase.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

“So, where do you want to go first?” Sirius asked, gesturing towards the shops after he tucked the invisibility cloak safely in the hidden passage.

Bella thought. “Honestly, I want to go to Quality Quidditch Supplies to - ”

Sirius’ jaw dropped. “You want to go _there?_ I thought you would have wanted to go to – to – some place more, uh, feminine,” he said.

“More _feminine?_ Sirius,” she said, putting her hands on her hips, “I’m not your average girl. And Quidditch is not a masculine sport. Do I make myself clear?” she asked.

Sirius swallowed, grinning angelically. “Yes, Bella,” he said, forgetting everything his friends had told him.

She laughed at his look. “Good. Now, let’s go inside,” Bella said, losing all of her friends’ advice.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Did you see that lady’s face?” Sirius asked, laughing. They had just visited Zonko’s and bought a fresh supply of Dungbombs.

“She looked as if she were about to explode!” Bella said, stepping into The Three Broomsticks. She tossed her bags down onto the floor next to her chair and sat down next to Sirius.

“I’ll go grab us some drinks,” Sirius said, leaping up.

He soon came back with a butterbeer in each hand and set one down in front of Bella.

They sat in the comfortable silence, sipping their drinks for several minutes. Until, it seemed, like Sirius had forgotten something.

“Here,” he said, pulling out the item in his pocket and opened it to reveal drawings. “You never got a chance to look at them all.”

“Oh, yeah,” she whispered, sliding in closer to Sirius, gazing down at each picture.

Sirius’ heart sped up. This was it. He was going to tell her how he felt. He had to. There wasn’t a better time.

“Bella, I have some more in here. In the back, see.” He flipped several pages and there, on the top, was a picture of Bella in black in white.

She gasped. “It’s beautiful, Sirius!”

He chuckled nervously and flipped to the next page. Another picture of Bella was staring up at her, but this one was in color.

She stared in awe as, page by page, Sirius revealed more pictures of her, or pictures of himself and her. He finally reached the last page, heart beating at twice it’s normal speed.

“Sirius,” she whispered, looking up at him when he closed the book at last, “what does this mean?”

He leaned in, catching her by surprise, kissing her. He felt as if, finally, he didn’t have to carry a huge burden on his back any longer. She could make everything in his world better. His search was over. Done. He’d found her.

She gave him entrance to her mouth, enjoying the kiss. She had been waiting for years to share a kiss like this one. It was so perfect. Like nothing could ruin it. It was funny how, in the kiss, she could feel each and every one of his emotions. He was happy, nervous, scared. And it was strange that, for the first time in her dating career, this was the first person whose emotions were clear. He honestly liked her. And not only because of her looks.

They leaned back, gazing into each other’s eyes. Nothing in the world could interrupt them. There was a dome of happiness surrounding the two, smiles on both faces.

“Bella,” he whispered back, leaning in so that his forehead rested on hers, “I love you.”

The world stopped spinning. Bella felt a jolt in her stomach. Sirius leaned in to give another kiss, but she stopped him. “Wait, I – Sirius, I – I can’t. Stop,” she whispered, standing abruptly from her seat, grabbing her bags, and running out of the door, tears streaming down her face.

Sirius sat back in his chair, stunned. He had thought about this before. How would she react? And this was his worst thought of how she’d react. And his nightmare came true.

Numbly, Sirius rested his head in his hands, tears trickling to the bottom where everything had fallen out.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella raced up to her dormitory, out of breath from running nonstop, and threw herself on her bed, tears running constantly out of her eyes.

She had run away. He was there, within her grasp, and she ran away.

Bella choked on her sobs, wiping her nose and tears on her arm.

Lily and Breanna ran over to her, rubbing her back softly.

“Shh, Bella, what happened?” Lily asked with her eyebrows creased in worry.

“He – it’s my fault!” she yelled into Lily’s shoulder, holding her tight.

“No, Bella,” Breanna said soothingly, “you didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Yes, I did,” she said, much quieter now. “He – don’t talk to me, please,” she whispered, sniffing.

Breanna and Lily glanced at each other nervously. “Are you sure, Bella?”

She nodded, pushing away from Lily’s grip. “I need to be alone.”

Lily watched Bella nervously, worried about what she might do alone, and allowed herself to be dragged out of the room by Breanna.

Bella crawled up to her pillow and pulled out her diary, opening it to her last page.

_I finally had my first “date” with Sirius. And it went as bad as it could have gone._

_It started out perfect, though. We strolled up and down the streets, going in stores as we pleased. And he laughed nearly the whole time. His laugh is perfect. It’s gorgeous. He’s perfect –_ he’s _gorgeous! Nothing’s wrong with Sirius Black. I’m the one who’s mental._

_We went to The Three Broomsticks. He ordered us drinks and showed me the rest of his pictures he drew. They were of me. Nearly forty of them in the back - all of me. That had to have been from previous years! They were each dated with little numbers in the corner. One, I saw, was dated in the first year! I asked what it meant, even though I knew perfectly well what it meant. He kissed me. It was the most wonderful ten seconds of my entire life. I wouldn’t trade anything for that moment in time._

_And then I ruined the whole thing. He told me he loved me. And those are the words I’ve been waiting for since the first day I spoke to him this year – since the beginning of my dating career! But coming from any other boy’s mouth, it sounds like they would be lying or making a joke out of it. When Sirius said those three words, it sounded too real. I was scared of a commitment I would make without thinking about it. If I said those words right back and things didn’t turn out as I wanted them to, I know I would cry myself into oblivion. So I ran away. I ran from love._

_I’m too scared. I should have said the same thing back and now I’m kicking myself for it. I shouldn’t have run off like that. I bet he’s thinking I’m some kind of a deranged person. And it’s my fault._

Bella held her quill against her face, thinking desperately. She lowered it one last time.

_I’m going to do something about it._

She stuffed her quill back in her diary and ran out of the dormitory, out of the common room, ignoring Lily’s and Breanna’s cries of astonishment.

She tore around the corners and down stairs, hastily wiping her eyes. She had to find Sirius – she had to explain.

There was the witch; the entrance to Hogsmeade. Her eyes were so blurred, she almost didn’t see someone standing outside of the statue. But she caught herself, managing not to collide into the man beside the statue.

And even though she stopped in time, his hands reached out to steady her.

Bella gasped as she looked up into the face of Sirius. And broke into sobs.

“Sirius, I’m so s-sorry!” she said, trying as hard as she could not to give in and cry on Sirius, but at the same time, not to run away. “I c-couldn’t!”

“Bella, get yourself under control,” he whispered, wiping her tears gently. For a guy whose heart had just been broken, he was holding up remarkably well. “Now, talk again. Is everything ok? What happened?”

She shook her head. “Sirius, I didn’t mean to run away like that. I should have told you. Look,” Bella said, talking slower, “I wasn’t thinking when I ran away without any explanation.”

Sirius shrugged. “I understand.”

Bella raised an eyebrow. “You – you do?”

He nodded. “You just don’t love me. I understand. I understand _completely._ ”

His voice was turning cold now. Bella shivered. “No, Sirius.” Tears were forming in her voice again. “You don’t understand.”

He nodded. “Maybe we just weren’t meant to be.” He moved to brush past Bella and walk away.

But instead, she turned Sirius around and held him in front of her. “Listen, I’m sorry. It’s not that I don’t want to be a – a couple or anything. I just…” Bella swallowed, trying to find the right words, slowly dropping her hands to her side. “I think that you were moving too fast for me to keep up back there in The Three Broomsticks.”

Sirius stood, unmoving. And then, as if it were a joke, he chuckled softly. “So, can we just pretend that bit back there never happened, then?”

Bella smiled, most of the tears dispersing. “How about we start over from the point where you showed me your pictures, ok?” She straightened up and stood in front of Sirius, acting. “Sirius, what does this mean?”

He smiled, gazing down at Bella. “Is it my turn to act?” he whispered, as if they were on a stage with a large audience watching them.

She nodded.

Sirius bent down, covering her lips with his own. Bella’s back began to arc as she fell into the kiss, and he put one hand underneath her gently, holding her up, and ran the other through her hair that had, by this time, been taken down.

Slowly, he pulled her back up, releasing his grip from her. “Bella, I _really, really_ like you.”

She smiled. “That’ll work.”

“Wait a minute,” Sirius said, holding his hand up. “That wasn’t a very good answer. Let’s do this again.”

Bella’s eyebrow shot into her hairline. “What?”

“Come on, we have to act out again.” Sirius stood in his position, waiting for her line.

She shrugged, starting over. “Sirius, what does this mean?”

He gave her another kiss, nearly twice as long and twice as deep this time. “Bella, I like you,” he said, pulling her back to her feet.

Bella shook her head at him, confused. “What was the point in - ”

“Wait – one more time!” he said, pulling her back to him and swooping in, giving her another kiss. He let go, cradling her in his arms. “I hate you, Bella,” he said, grinning.

She laughed, now understanding his meaning for replays. Bella walked up close to Sirius, body against body. She could feel his heart pounding, as if it were her own. She could feel his blood pulse through his body as if they were one. And they were. “I hate you, too, Sirius,” she whispered, pulling his lips down to meet hers in the middle.

**Author's Note: Nothing special... I just hope you liked it!**

**Next chapter, more of James and his little problem... A fun scene involving Lily and Remus (which I definitely enjoyed writing) and James finally admits to something...**

**You'll see! :D**

**Thanks for reviewing!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	14. Pre-Pranking

**Chapter Fourteen: Pre-Pranking**

James shook himself awake. Sweat dripped down the side of his face. His legs were tangled in the mass of bed sheets wrapped around him and nearly all of the covers were ripped in some fashion.

Quietly, he tried to stand without waking the other boys in the dormitory, but his legs were still caught. James landed on the frozen floor, now wishing he had not even tried to stand up. He managed to hoist himself onto his hands and sit back in the bed again, ripping the sheets farther to get his legs out. How he had gotten his legs that stuck was beyond him, but James knew that the house elves could replace his sheets easily.

Pulling on a shirt, James dragged an old blanket of his down to the common room, trying not to make too much noise as he bounded down the stone cold steps. He wrapped himself up and leant against the armrest of the couch. He stared at the first, eyes unfocused. _I’ll only sit here for a few minutes_ , he thought to himself, closing his eyes slowly. _I can’t stay here all night. I have to get back to my bed…_

James shook himself awake and checked his watch. He groaned. James had fallen asleep for three hours. _Although,_ James thought, _at least I_ got _some sleep now._

A soft thudding noise echoed throughout the room. James looked over his shoulder and smiled as Lily tiptoed, quietly, to the couch.

“Hello, James,” she whispered, pulling his blanket away from him and curling herself in it.

“Hey!” James shrieked, averting his gaze to Lily, astonished. “That’s _mine!_ ”

Lily laughed. “I’ve never heard your voice that high pitched before.”

James glared at her, crossing his arms. “Well, then, you should have heard me when Sirius put plastic spiders in my bed a few years ago… Boy did he pay,” he added as an afterthought.

Lily grinned. “So, what are you doing down here so early?”

James yawned, shivering. Lily noticed and, being the kind person she was, spread the blanket over both of their laps. “I had a nightmare,” he said, the full force of the memory coming back to him now.

“You had a nightmare? Oh… Oh!You had a _nightmare?_ ”

James nodded. “Yes. I had a _nightmare_.”

Lily’s look of laughter immediately vanished from her face and she began scowling at the blanket as if it were the blanket’s fault. “Who’d you see this time?” she asked in a whisper, barely audible.

James sighed and looked into the fireplace, not wanting to watch any of Lily’s reactions. “Professor Sonetra.”

If anything, her scowl deepened. “What happened?”

“Let’s just say she messed up and paid the price.”

Lily started to pick at the blanket, as if she were suddenly interested in it. “Is she, uh… still alive?”

James nodded. “She got a pretty long Cruciatus Curse, though. She was supposed to attack some muggles in London, apparently, and there was a hitch in the plan.” James stared intently at the fire as if he was trying to remember something from long ago. Then he shrugged. “Something went wrong. Anyway, she was punished for not killing some muggles. I think there was supposed to be some mass destruction tonight and it got messed up because of her.”

James was silent. And then he smiled and let out a soft laugh. “You should have seen Voldemort face. Boy was he ticked off.”

James laughed a bit harder this time, but quieted down when he realized Lily was not laughing with him. “Hey, Lil’? Lily, are you all right?”

She shrugged. “I still think you shouldn’t have to see these things until later in life.”

He shook his head, rolling her eyes. “You’re not still on about that, are you? Look, I’ll deal with it. Not everyone is normal. I’m just one of those people where things – happen.” He ran a hand through his hair. “I’ve been around strange happenings my whole life, especially with Sirius as my best friend,” he added as an afterthought.

Lily chuckled and James smiled. “See?” he said, turning her head to face him. “That’s exactly how I’m getting through all of this – _stuff._ As long as I have all of you with me to keep me happy and smiling, it’s no big deal. And this,” he said, pointing to Lily’s smile, “is worth living for.”

She blushed, looking away. “So, if nobody ever smiled again, you’d kill yourself?”

James took a deep breath and leaned back in the couch, stretching. Then, after a large yawn, said, “Yep. However, I’m not worrying about that. I mean, have you _looked_ at Sirius lately?”

Lily laughed. “You’ve got a point there. Bella is acting the same. You’d think they might have been a little smarter to have gone out earlier, though.”

“But we were stopping them.”

Lily thought on this. “Another good point.”

James chuckled. “Remus and Breanna too. Our friends were just too loyal to us to stay away for so long.”

Lily nodded, leaning back on James and closed her eyes. “I feel guilty now.”

James laughed softly, astonished by another stroke of luck. Lily was laying – on _him._ _James Potter!_ His heart sped up. “Yeah, I feel guilty too. They’re the best friends we could ever ask for.”

Lily smiled and James checked his watch discreetly. Three am. He just hoped no one came down for another six hours, though that was highly unlikely. “It’s a little awkward.”

“What?” James’ eyebrows knitted together. “What’s awkward?”

“With our best friends going out together. They’re matches made from heaven. And we’re stuck with no one.”

James colored. “Yeah. No one.”

Lily rolled over and snuggled into James’ chest. “I’m just glad you don’t have anyone either. So we can have no one together.”

He smiled and ran a hand through her soft hair, trying as hard as he could to keep the blood from his face down. Midway through her hair, James froze.

“Lily,” he whispered frantically.

She looked up, eyes half closed. “What?”

“Lily, I still have a girlfriend.”

Her eyes seemed to open twice as fast. “You _what?_ ”

“In Hufflepuff. Elizabeth. She – _shit._ Lily, I – I have to go talk to her.”

James made a move to get up but Lily stopped him. “James, it’s too early to go anywhere right now!”

He nodded and sat back down reluctantly, but continued checking his watch.

“I can’t believe I’ve ignored her for nearly a month. Imagine how annoyed she’ll be!” James was silent. Then spoke again. “Lily, I’m not sure I want to leave the common room anymore.”

She laughed and pulled the blanket around her neck, curling into a small ball and resting back on James’ muscular chest. “Relax. Talk to her during breakfast. Teachers will be able to watch the whole thing and make sure nothing gets out of hand.”

James’ head bobbed up and down in agreement. “Yeah, you’re right.”

“Of course I am.”

“Lily?” James whispered. “Why exactly were you doing down here this early? You weren’t waiting for me or anything, were you?”

She smiled, eyes closed. “No, I had a nightmare, too.”

“Of what?” he asked.

Her breathing seemed ragged. “M-my parents.”

James nodded and stroked her cheek softly, calming her. “Things like that may happen,” he said. “Try to think of it as a good thing whenever you see your family. Be happy to still have them in your dreams.”

“I can’t, James. I can’t when all I see of them is their bodies. They don’t have a soul left. Voldemort is there - _laughing_. Then Petunia comes up to me and points a finger,” Lily said, holding up her own finger, replaying the dream. “‘It’s all your fault, freak. You killed Mum and Dad.’”

James shook his head but continued running his hand along Lily’s cheek. “You didn’t kill them, Lily.”

She nodded, pulling the blanket higher, wiping small tears away. “I’m trying to tell myself that. Really, I am, but there is just something in the back of my mind that keeps coming back to haunt me. And Petunia tells it to me personally.”

She was silent. “So, what will you tell Elizabeth?” she asked, obviously trying to change topics.

“It all depends, really. I’ll let her do most of the talking. And by the time she’s finished, I’m betting I’ll be a single man once again.” James gently traced Lily’s hair behind her ear and continued, following the pattern. “Maybe I could talk to her in front of McGonagall’s office. She’d never let anyone use violence in hallways. Or even raise their voice, for that matter. What do you think, Lily? Lily?”

James glanced down at Lily. Her lips were formed in the shape of a gentle smile and rhythmic breathing emitted from her lungs.

James smiled at the small figure. Craning his neck slightly, he kissed the top of her head. “Sleep tight, Lily Evans.”

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

Remus yawned and rolled over, checking the clock.

_Seven o’clock? Who would automatically wake up at this ungodly hour!_ Remus crawled out of bed, feeling he had no drop of sleep left in him, and dressed quietly. He stepped out of his dormitory and closed the door softly behind him, even though he knew well enough that no one would wake up even if he had broken a vase.

Dodging the squeaky steps he knew by heart, Remus ended up at the bottom of the staircase, jaw dropped. Quickly regaining the use of his feet, he stepped over to James and Lily, snuggling _quite_ closely on the couch.

“ _James!_ ” Remus hissed, shaking him awake softly. With a small jolt, James looked up, eyes wide.

“Wha - ” he looked around the room, glanced up at Remus, and finished, staring down at the sleeping beauty in his arms. “Remus – what time is it?” James asked groggily, heating up in the face.

“It’s seven,” he said. “And you’re damn lucky Sirius didn’t come down here before me!”

James yawned and patted Lily’s shoulder a couple of times. “Come on, Lils, wake up. Morning time,” he said as she stirred.

“No,” Lily mumbled, rolling into James’ chest again, hiding her face from view.

James blushed as Remus gave him a questioning glance. “Lily, get up. Others are going to come down soon.” James looked from her to Remus helplessly. Then he grinned. “Lily! Up now – Sirius is coming down with a camera!”

She sat straight up, frightening both Remus and James. Her hair flew left and right as her gaze swept throughout the room frantically. “Where is he?”

James laughed. “Lily, he’s not here. I just said that to wake you up. Or else he _will_ come down with a camera.”

Lily groaned and fell backwards, landing in James’ lap. “Then I still have time to sleep.”

James rolled his eyes, chuckling. “No, you don’t.” She did not move. “Don’t make me push you off.”

She smiled, eyes closed. “You wouldn’t. You can’t hurt a girl.”

James raised an eyebrow. It bothered him, though, that she was one hundred percent correct. So instead, he raised her head off his lap and stood, placing a pillow in his previous spot. Turning around, James spotted Remus with his arms crossed and a small smile threatening to come out.

“What’s that about?” he asked once Lily had fallen asleep again and they were out of earshot up in their dormitory.

James rolled his eyes, falling back on his bed, trying to hide the shredded sheets. “We both woke up in the middle of the night. Nothing important. We just fell asleep.”

Remus laughed. “All right, James. I believe you.”

“No you don’t,” he said, failing to hide a yawn.

There was a sharp rap on the door. “Come in,” Remus hollered.

Breanna and Bella stepped inside, dragging Lily behind them. James stared, aghast, at the trio. “Do you _normally_ wake up this early?” he asked.

Breanna hopped over to Remus’ bed and gave him a kiss, smiling. “We weren’t tired,” she said.

Bella nodded as she kneeled down next to Sirius. “Sirius,” she whispered in his ear. “Rise and shine,” she murmured.

There was a stirring movement and, miraculously, Sirius sat up, grinning.

The other boys’ jaws dropped straight to the floor. “He lives!” James yelled, staring agape at the couple as Lily made her way to James’ bed.

Bella shot him a small glare and turned back to Sirius, grinning. “Hi,” she muttered, blushing slightly.

Lily and James turned their heads to look at the other and rolled their eyes.

Sirius kissed Bella. “Good morning,” he replied, grinning.

And, as if in another world, she started to giggle, batting her eyelashes slowly at him. Lily leaned over and whispered in James’ ear, “I’ve never _ever_ seen her do that with a guy before. She must really be taken with Sirius.”

James nodded, agreeing. “He’s the exact same.”

There were a few minutes of small talk filling the room as Peter woke.

Lily looked at James, eyes wide, and pointed discreetly at the bed sheets, trying not to attract anyone else’s gaze.

“Your nightmare?” she asked.

James nodded, yawning. “They’re all shredded. The house elves will have to bring me new sheets.”

Then finally, Sirius stood up, hugging Bella tightly. “Sorry, but you’re going to have to leave now. I know you want to stay and watch me get dressed, but sadly James has to get dressed as well.”

Playfully, Bella punched him on the shoulder and exited the room with Breanna and Lily close behind.

Ten minutes later, The Marauders trudged down to the common room, yawning.

“I haven’t been awake and dressed at seven since…” James thought. “Well, a long time,” he finished.

The group of sixth years traveled to the Great Hall. There were a few early risers from other tables, but none that anyone seemed to know.

“Peter,” Breanna said, talking from across the table, “I think we should work on our project in Defense against the Dark Arts after lunch today.”

Peter nodded, shoving a piece of toast in his mouth. “Yaa, fure,” he said, spraying crumbs all over. He swallowed. “How long?”

Breanna shrugged, picking at her food. “I don’t know, maybe three hours, four, possibly.”

Peter, stuffing another piece of toast in his mouth, choked. “Free frours? Fou er foking!”

“No, I’m not joking,” she said back, calmly wiping pieces of toast from her face. “It’d be good to get a head start instead of leaving everything until the end. Now, I say we continue working on finding information, maybe create an outline of sorts, or - ”

James groaned, paling slightly. Everyone’s heads turned to look at him. “What’s up, James?” Sirius asked, eyebrows creased.

He pointed across the room. Elizabeth strolled through the doors, walking over to the Hufflepuff table, sitting alone.

Lily chuckled. “James hasn’t talked to her in over a month,” she informed the table.

“Shut up, Lily,” he muttered, running a hand nervously through his hair.

Remus pulled out a velvet bag from his robe pocket. “Three galleons she cries and breaks up with him,” he said, dropping three golden coins in the bag.

Sirius raised an eyebrow in surprise. “Dream on, Moony. The girl clings to any guy! She wouldn’t break up with him!” Sirius pulled out the remains of James’ money from the night before at Hogsmeade. “I bet… Uh, 4 galleons, 12 sickles, and 7 knuts that Elizabeth doesn’t care James ignored her and they’re still going out by tonight.”

Peter dropped some silver coins in the bag. “Three sickles Elizabeth hates your guts and never wants to see you again – no crying from her either,” he added, swallowing the rest of his pumpkin juice.

James laughed. “Going out on a ledge, are you, Peter?”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “What on earth are you doing, making bets on a girl?”

Sirius rolled his eyes as if it were obvious. “We make bets all of the time on girls and when one of us has to ‘talk’ to them. Whoever guesses right gets all of the winnings in the bag.”

Breanna looked thoughtful as she leaned over to whisper something in Lily’s ear. Lily nodded and stood up, bending across the table and whispering in Bella’s ear who, in turn, nodded as well.

They each pulled large amounts of money from their pockets and counted it together. Satisfied, Bella dropped the coins into the now bulging bag. “Seventeen galleons, 3 sickles, and 4 knuts Elizabeth forgot all about you.”

James raised an eyebrow. “Taking a risk there, you know. Sirius knows girls like the back of his hand. You sure you wanna do this?”

Bella ignored the comment about Sirius and other girls and nodded. “We’re positive.”

James shrugged and stood up. “Wish me luck.”

Lily smiled. “Good luck, Jamsie.”

He walked slowly to the Hufflepuff table as if he were walking to his own funeral. Cautiously, James tapped Elizabeth on the shoulder. She spun her head and her golden curls hit her face. “Hi, James,” she said, smiling.

James swallowed. “Look, Elizabeth - ”

“It’s Liz now,” she said, patting the bench for him to sit down. Carefully, James lowered himself into the seat.

“Er – Liz – We have to talk.”

She nodded, encouraging him to go on. Ignoring the adamant stares from his friends, James pressed on.

“Liz, I’m sorry I was, uh, ignoring you the past month. I got caught up in some other – _stuff._ ”

She nodded. “It’s all right, I understand. I mean, you and Lily Evans – who would’ve thought? But I think you two make a great couple,” she said, patting his leg. “No hard feelings here.”

James stared, astonished. And then laughed. “Oh, you – no. No! Lily and I – we’re not – I mean - ”

“Really, it’s ok! I understand! After Christmas, it was clear you did not like me much anymore. And, honestly,” she blushed, “I kind-of found someone else.”

James pinched himself on the arm. Hard. “Some – someone else?”

She nodded enthusiastically. “He’s really nice, like you. But you two are just…” She glanced at James, trying not to hurt him. “You both are just different,” Elizabeth finished, hopefully.

James nodded, not understanding what he was hearing. “So, you’re – uh…” James sought for words, but could not find any. Soon a strong hand gripped his shoulder.

“Excuse me,” the deep voice boomed.

James spun around in his chair. “Er – hi.”

Elizabeth stood up clutching the person’s hand.

James stood as well and held out his hand. “Uh, hello. I’m James - ”

“Potter, I know.” He eyed James suspiciously, scowling. “My name’s Charles. Head Boy,” he explained, pointing to his badge and James nodded. “What are you doing over here when your table,” Charles pointed, “is on the opposite side of the room?”

“Uh, I was just going to, er…” James pointed to his house table as well and managed to croak out a soft, “Goodbye,” as he walked away.

His friends all seemed to be jumping on him the second he got back. “So?” Sirius asked, eyes shining. “What happened? Who wins?”

James smiled and sat down. “Sorry to say it, but the girls win.”

Sirius groaned and flopped down into his seat hardly seconds before his eyes glinted devilishly. “Wait a minute. She – she really forgot about you?”

“ _And_ she has a new boyfriend already,” Bella piped up, pocketing some coins.

James raised an eyebrow, smiling slightly. “And how do you know this already?”

She grinned. “I saw them kissing in the hallway a week or so ago.”

James laughed, mixing up his food on his plate. “You could’ve warned me, you know. So that I didn’t make such a fool out of myself, thinking she would be pining over me!”

Lily laughed. “Pining over you? James, please. Think about it – not everything revolves around The Marauders! You’re too full of yourself,” she said in finality.

James shrugged, picking at his food again. “So, what are we planning on doing today? And ideas?” he asked, looking up.

There was silence. James grinned, mischievously, answering his own question. “I’ve got a thought, but it might be awhile to come into effect.”

Sirius’ ears perked up. “Prank?” he asked, excited.

James nodded. “Remember on Monday, in Defense against the Dark Arts how you were telling me about those moving pictures you make?”

Bella reddened at the thought of the pictures. Those same pictures James was talking about had been the cause for the termination of their friendship in the beginning.

Sirius’ head bounced up and down energetically. “Yeah, and?”

“ _And_ I say you use this little talent of yours to, oh, I don’t know. Possibly humiliate Snape a bit?”

A smile spread across Lily’s face. “James, you are a genius.”

James stuck his nose in the air arrogantly. “Of course I am.”

Lily punched his shoulder playfully and stood from her spot. “Are you all coming to help plan it out?” she asked, gesturing towards the door.

With grins plastered on their faces, they rose from their spots and headed back to the boys dormitory.

“Now,” Sirius said, pulling out his pad of paper that drawings were piling out of and pulling out a sheet or two, “I draw something…”

Everyone glanced around the room, hoping for someone to have an idea as to what he should draw.

“Uh…” James ran a hand through his hair. “You could paint Gryffindor things on there and we can put them in their common room,” he suggested.

Remus shook his head. “Nah, we’ve already done that twice before. How about making a mural in the Great Hall?”

Bella let out a loud, “Ha!”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “And what’s wrong with that?”

“If you’re thinking pictures in their common room are unoriginal, then what, pray tell, is the difference between that and the Great Hall? You need something _new!_ ”

Remus seemed a bit taken aback by Bella’s outburst, but saw her reasoning and nodded, agreeing.

The Gryffindors spent the next ten minutes in deep thought. No one said anything, but instead waved aside old ideas, attempting to create new ones.

Breanna grinned. “Guys,” she whispered, her eyes darting back and forth at the hopeful faces, “I have an idea.”

Sirius’ face glowed. “Well, don’t keep us waiting – dish us the dirt!”

Breanna nodded, thinking things through in her head. “Well, first, we’re going to need the Slytherin password - ”

“I can get that,” Lily said.

James cast her an odd glance. “You sure? I mean, you might have to lie and - ”

“As if I’ve never done that before!” Lily said, her face determined and eyes flashing dangerously. “I can get the password,” she repeated.

James nodded and looked away.

The others glanced back and forth at the two, expecting something more. Breanna continued. “Soonest we could do this, I reckon, is Wednesday. And we’re going to have to act at night as well.”

“We always do,” Remus pointed out.

“James, we’ll need your transfiguration skills. Bella, we’re going to need your help with some of the creative ideas and finishing spells. Sirius, you can use this prank for your drawings. Remus, Peter, and I will help with finishing touches and whatever you guys may need help with.”

“Hold on,” Sirius cut in, eyebrows raised. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’d like to know what it is we’re doing to them _before_ we plan out who is in charge of what!”

Breanna grinned. “Ok, here’s what we do…”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Why are there Mondays?”

Lily’s drooping eyelids skittered over to Sirius’ thoughtful face. “Are you joking or do you really want an answer to that?”

Sirius nodded. His eyes widened in curiosity. “I mean, if we didn’t have Monday’s, then we wouldn’t have to start our lessons on a bad first-of-the-week day.”

“Sirius, honey,” Bella replied, calmly, “if we didn’t have Mondays, Tuesdays would be Mondays and they’d be just as bad.”

He blinked. “But Tuesdays aren’t Mondays. They’re _Tuesdays_.”

“No, if you got rid of Mondays, Tuesdays would take their spot in the first-of-the-week.”

Sirius blinked again and then rolled his eyes. “Jeez, you’re analyzing this way too much, Bella. I just had a simple question!”

James let out a hardy laugh, causing others to join in around him. “Sirius, that isn’t a ‘simple question,’ as you put it. Incidentally, it requires thinking which no one really likes to go on a Monday morning!”

“See, there it is again!” Sirius pointed out, his loud voice bouncing off the walls of the Great Hall. “If we didn’t have Mondays, then you would be able to think and answer my question!”

“Let it go,” Remus said hoarsely over Sirius’ booming voice. “No one’s in the mood for your mind games today.”

“See?” Sirius repeated, ignoring Remus’ fruitless attempts at quieting him. His eyes sparkled. “Now, you _would_ be in a mood for mind games on other days – except for Mondays!”

“Shut up!” Breanna hollered, dropping her fork with a clattering noise, shattering the sudden silence. “Sirius, I don’t think we’re _ever_ in the mood for you mind games!”

His jaw dropped at her sudden outburst. “Miss Breanna!” he said, in mock astonishment. “I am offended.”

Remus laughed nervously, lacing his fingers through hers and pulling her against him. “Relax, she’s kidding around with you.”

“Am I?” she hissed, glaring daggers at him.

Remus’ eyes darted back and forth between the pair, his face paling. “Er – Breanna, are you ready to get to class?”

She turned in her seat and focused her glare on Remus. However, he didn’t seem to be affected by it. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Breanna’s formerly tensed shoulders dropped and her eyes shifted back to their normal, soft color.

Sirius knew not to take anything she said to heart. Recently, insults have been rolling off her tongue and her aura oftentimes gave off a radiation of irritation or distress. Remus was the only person, it seemed, who knew how to calm her down. They all figured this was some sort of phase Breanna was going through, what with her parents found murdered and such. At least, that’s what they hoped it was: a phase – just a phase.

“So,” Breanna muttered from across the table, “any luck with the Slytherin password yet, Lily?”

Shocked by her sudden change of voice, Lily’s eyes widened and she nodded slightly. “Tomorrow night there is a prefect meeting. There’s a file where the passwords to each house are written every time they’re switched. I’ll just have to knick it for a bit to get their password and then I can put it back.”

James snorted into his drink.

Lily turned slowly, narrowing her eyes at him. “Something you would like to share with the group?”

James shrugged, swallowing the Pumpkin Juice. “I just don’t know if you can actually _steal_ something as a Prefect and walk away with a clear conscience.”

“I _can_ ,” she hissed venomously, “and I _will_.”

James shrugged again, looking away. “You’re always perfect, though, how can you just steal something?”

Lily seemed taken aback by this comment, her anger dissolving. “Perfect? James, I’m _far_ from perfect.”

He turned back to her, ignoring the stares from fellow Gryffindors, now joining the table. “Well, you’re damn close, then.”

Her sparkling eyes seemed to be locked with his, inches from the other’s face. That was, until someone decided to interrupt the fragile moment.

“Sirius – guys! We’ve got three minutes to get to class!” Peter hollered, pointing to the watch that was cutting off the circulation to his chubby hand.

James pulled away and scooped up his bags, pretending nothing had happened, leaving Lily to ponder over her confused thoughts alone.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“Mr. Lupin, could you attend to the bathrooms? It is, really, very grotesque what everyone is doing to them, especially with Moaning Myrtle. She has frightened all of the girls away from one of the bathrooms, therefore leaving everything in there useless!”

Remus raised an eyebrow. “Kiara, are you saying that you’re giving me permission to go into the girls bathroom to clean it up? Wouldn’t you rather have a _girl_ for that, and I’ll do the boy’s bathroom?”

She considered this statement, nodding slowly, allowing her thin, blonde hair to fall past her shoulder in front of her. “You’re a very bright young man, Remus. Elizabeth - ”

“Liz,” she said automatically, staring at the Head Boy, smiling.

“Pardon me. _Liz_ ,” she corrected, turning in her chair at the head of the long table. “I will put you on duty for cleaning the girls bathrooms. Remus takes the guys bathrooms, Severus, I daresay you could handle the Prefect bathrooms, am I correct?”

He nodded slightly, his gaze unmoving from the table.

Lily crossed her arms, shivering. This was one of the worst places to be in the middle of winter: the room for Prefect meetings. She had on pants, a thick sweater, and her school robes, yet her lips seemed to be turning blue from the lack of a fire in the room. She might have even ditched the meeting this month, but the thought of a prank on the Slytherins overpowered the chill sweeping throughout the room.

“Look, Kiara, I think we’ve got this all planned out. Do you think we could leave early? I don’t know about the rest of you, but I feel like a turkey in a freezer,” Lily said, trying to leave as soon as she could.

Snape gave a derisive laugh. “You kept quiet longer than I had expected, Evans.”

Lily glared at him. “Shut up, Snape.”

“I happen to agree with Lily on this matter,” the Head Boy, Charles, said, sitting up in his chair, ready for any type of fight between the two. “I second the move to end the meeting. All who agree, raise their hands.”

Lily rolled her eyes at his professionalism and stuck her hand in to the air.

Charles’ eyes roamed the room, counting the hands. “Majority rules,” he said, standing on his feet. “You all are now dismissed to further any other activities.”

Lily stood slowly, next to Remus, and whispered in his ear. “I’m going to get the folder. You shoo everyone out and stand guard at the door – pretend I’ve already left, ok?”

He nodded imperceptibly and walked toward the door, behind the last of the Prefects. Lily bent down, slightly, behind a chair, watching everyone leave.

The door closed with a loud bang and Lily immediately stood back up in her original position, striding quickly over to the file cabinet. There was only one and it kept records of what happened through the year. At the beginning of the next summer, the cabinet cleared itself out automatically, all except for the single folder with the passwords.

Lily pulled open the top drawer and ran her fingers along the tabs until they reached the last folder. Smiling, she slid it out of its place.

Lily attempted to flip the top side over, but the sides glued together.

Her happy mood dropped. She tried prying her fingers into the folder and ripping it open, but it would not budge. She flipped it over, looking at the other side and then back to the front again. However, this time, there were five small, red dots.

Lily rolled her eyes and let out a puff of air. “Everything just has to have a damn password, doesn’t it?” She placed each of her fingers of her right hand and thought.

“Hogwarts,” she tried.

A bolt of pain spread through her fingers and up into her hand, causing it to go numb for a few moments. Lily swore colorfully and put her hand back on top, hoping to find the right password this time.

“Uh… Gryffindor.”

Another sting. She pulled her hand away, cradling it in her arms. “That was stupid,” she muttered. “They wouldn’t password protect a folder to all of the house passwords, and name it after only one of the houses.

There was a soft knock on the door and Lily spun around, expecting the worse, but sighed in relief once she saw Remus’ face in the doorway.

“What’s taking so long?” he whispered, closing the door behind him.

“It’s password protected,” she muttered, giving her hand a shake.

Remus nodded, thinking. “Did you try Founders Four?”

Lily raised an eyebrow, questionably. “And why on earth would you think it’d be that?”

He shrugged. “Sounds like something Dumbledore would make up.”

Lily nodded, believing him and put her hand back on the folder. “Founders Four.”

She screeched and pulled her hand away in pain for the third time.

“What happened?” Remus asked frantically, his eyes wide in concern.

Lily glared at him as he recoiled in fear. “Oh, did I forget to mention? Every time I say the wrong password, I get zapped!”

Remus held back a smile – but just barely. “How about Unity?”

Lily looked out of the corner of her eye. “Are you sure? If you’re not, then I’ll get hurt again!”

Remus rolled his eyes and snatched the folder from her grasp, placing his own fingers where Lily’s fingers used to be.

“Unity,” he stated clearly. A slight glow emitted from the sides of the folder and Remus smiled, pulling out the single sheet containing the passwords to each house.

Lily stood aghast. “Why the hell is it that I had to go through pain _three times_ while you took a wild shot and got in?”

Remus chuckled softly and scanned over the sheet. “The password’s Parseltongue.”

Lily nodded, massaging her hand. “Let’s go back.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“Hey, Lily!” James said, enthusiastically, bounding off the Common Room couch. “Did you, uh,” he glanced around the room and lowered his voice. “Did you get the password?”

She glared as hard as she could at James and brushed right past him, leaving Remus snickering where she used to stand.

“You’ll have to forgive Lily, there,” he said, smiling at her mood. “She had a bit of an unexpected turn after she found the password folder.”

Sirius glanced at the two and let out a half smile. “What’d you do, Lily? Did you get the password?”

“Oh, we got the password, alright!” she yelled at him, holding her limp hand. “Well, at least one of us got it.”

James shook his head and pulled Lily’s hand into his lap. He pulled out his wand and slowly examined each mark on her hand and cured each individually, using as much time as he could, just to be able to hold her hand. “What happened, Lily?” he whispered, looking away from her face and focusing on her hands as his face colored slightly.

“The damn folder was password protected! In addition, to open it, you had to put your hand on the cover and say the password. Well, of course, if you get it wrong, it sends a shock through your hand! Pleasant, I think not,” she grumbled.

Remus sat down on the floor in front of the fire, smiling. “Lily’s only annoyed because she was shocked three times, while I, myself, guessed once and got it on my first try.”

“But you also gave me a suggestion for a password and _I_ was the one who got hurt by your wrong guess!”

Breanna laughed loudly. “Calm down, Lily, it wasn’t his fault. You’re overreacting way too much.”

Lily glanced at her cautiously and decided to say nothing. It was not worth the trouble to start a fight with Breanna at this hour. “Go ahead, Potter,” she said, softly.

James’ stomach clenched. She had called him Potter – not James. “What?” he asked, his voice raspy.

She pulled her hand away, crossing her arms and looking into the fire stubbornly. “I said, ‘go ahead.’ Laugh, now. I wasn’t smart enough to get the password. You were right this morning, thinking I wouldn’t be able to.”

James shook his head, disbelieving. He reached up to her face and touched her cheek, turning her vision to meet his. “Do I look like I’m laughing?”

She swallowed and shook her head, closing her eyes.

“I think what you did tonight was brave of you, to take all of that pain for Remus!” He allowed a small smile here to show that he was joking around a bit.

Lily chuckled as well, holding out her hand for James to finish patching up. “Thanks.”

Again, he laughed. “For what?”

Playfully, Lily slapped him on the shoulder.

The group around them stared at the two with blank faces. All except for Sirius, however.

“Ha!”

All heads turned towards Sirius and each raised an eyebrow.

“I, uh,” he smiled mischievously, “I gotta go to bed. Good night, Bella,” he said, kissing her sweetly on the lips and running upstairs.

The remaining Marauders glanced at each other nervously and quickly followed Sirius’ example.

“’Night, Breanna!” Remus called over his shoulder as James kissed Lily’s hand and Peter waved to the girls.

They stared, dumbfounded. “Since when did Sirius go to bed before he was forced to?” Bella asked, breaking the silence among them.

“He didn’t finish fixing my hand!” Lily complained, holding her limp hand.

“Remus didn’t give me a kiss goodnight,” Breanna pouted, jutting out her bottom lip.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sirius smiled smugly as his other roommates ran into the room not more than five seconds after him.

“I knew you’d follow me,” he said.

James breathed heavily from his hurried run up the stairs. “Well, we knew you were planning something in that pea-sized brain of yours. What’s up?” he asked, sitting on his four-poster bed.

Sirius shined his all-too-familiar up-to-no-good smile. “You’re in love.”

James rolled his eyes. “Would you get over that?” James pleaded, falling back into the comfort of his own bed. “I don’t love her. And the joke’s not getting to be funny anymore, Padfoot.”

Sirius shook his head full of hair. “No, James. Before, yes, I was joking around. Now, I’m not. You’re in love with Lily Evans.”

Remus and Peter said nothing, keeping still.

“Sirius, you’re mental. I don’t love - ”

“Don’t even try telling me you don’t love her, because it’s written all over your face. I’m your best friend, you’d think I might know a little bit of something about you in return,” he said, smiling.

James sat up, though not looking in Sirius’ direction.

“You’re all over the girl. The small things that you’re doing make it so obvious, Prongs. Helping her just now? She could have done that herself – but you stepped in anyway. You’re in _love_ with her, James!”

James breathed in, held his breath, and sighed out, long and low. “So what if I am?”

Sirius let out a whoop of laughter, thrusting his fist in the air as Peter and Remus relaxed and sat on their own beds. “You do love her?”

James nodded, running a hand through his already messy hair. “She’s all I can ever think about, Sirius. It’s driving me crazy. _She’s_ driving me crazy.”

Sirius laughed again, rubbing his hands together. “Wait until Bella hears about this.”

James’ eyes widened in horror. “No, Sirius, no! If you tell anyone else, I swear, I will hurt you and won’t ever rest until I do.”

Sirius nodded, smiling. “Relax, only joking. This may only be repeated among fellow Marauders,” he said, glancing at the others in the room. “Understood?”

Everyone nodded and James sighed, relieved. “Thanks, guys. I don’t know what I would do without you.”

Sirius shrugged. “But you could tell us how long you’ve been trying to keep it a secret from us.”

James smiled. “A week, give or take a day,” he said. And grinned widely. “There’s one other thing I haven’t had a chance to tell anyone, but since you know how I, uh, feel and all…”

Remus nodded encouragingly. “What is it?”

James looked away, smiling at the wall. “I kissed her.”

“You _what?_ ” Sirius yelled, standing up. “When? And you’re not going out? What is _wrong_ with you, man?”

“It was over winter break,” he said. “I was just leaving to come back here, and her parents were watching so I just – I kissed her. Even if it was an act, best three seconds of my life.”

A goofy smile spread across his face.

“And, if I’m not mistaken, I’d say it was your first, as well,” said Remus.

“Of _course_ it was his first! He didn’t kiss her before that, did he?” Sirius asked.

“That’s not what I _meant_ , you git,” Remus said, looking over at Sirius. “I meant that was his first kiss.” He stared directly at James now. “Ever.”

He nodded, feeling giddier than he had in his whole life, finally feeling, in a way, free.

“What the – James, are you serious? First kiss – _ever_?” Sirius asked, his jaw dropped.

“Why’s that such a surprise?” James replied, raising an eyebrow.

“Considering nearly every girl I’ve talked to has had a chance to slip into the conversation that they were snogged senseless by you, mate, I’d most likely believe ‘em. _Not_ even to mention you never told me otherwise!”

“Unless all of those girls lied, leaving James in an awkward spot,” Remus said, ignoring Sirius’ last comment.

“Why would they do that?” Sirius asked.

“To win a bet,” James answered, the smile plastered to his face. “The rumors after that spread like wildfire. None of the other girls I dated wanted to be known as the girls who never kissed me, so they lied as well. Pathetic world, isn’t it?”

Sirius shook his head. “Prongs, why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

“Would you have honestly believed me?” James asked, smiling slightly.

Sirius shrugged. “Maybe, maybe not. You could have at least tried to convince me. But what really bugs me,” he said, “is that Remus somehow knew this, and no one else did!”

It was Remus’ turn to shrug. “I have my ways?”

“How so?” James asked, raising an eyebrow, suspiciously.

Remus laughed. “Don’t worry; I never spied on you. It’s just, you never kissed in the hallways or whatnot. I figured you’d be like Sirius when it came to dating.”

“Hey!” Sirius shouted indignantly.

“Hey, yourself,” Remus muttered, smiling. “But that’s beside the point. What matters is that we, even though no one else may, believe you.”

James nodded. He pulled his pillow up to his face and grinned into it, muffled laughter seeping through the threads.

Sirius and Remus just stared.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“Quiet!” Lily hissed menacingly, tiptoeing along behind several pairs of feet. “It’s the two in the morning – _not_ two in the afternoon!”

“Lily, if you don’t quiet yourself down, we’re going to get in trouble. _Now,_ if you don’t mind, could we get on with our prank, perhaps?” Breanna whispered.

Lily flipped her hair over her shoulder and in Breanna’s face, looking away. “Fine, then. Are we almost there?”

Sirius shook his head. _Amateur pranksters,_ he thought. “Quiet,” he muttered out of the corner of his mouth.

Bella stopped in mid stride and held a hand to her heart, mouth left hanging open. “Do mine ears tell the truth? Sirius Black, telling _others_ to be quiet?”

James rolled his eyes. “We’re going to get caught if you girls don’t shut your traps!”

Lily glared at him. “I beg your pardon, but we ‘girls’ do not have ‘traps,’ as you call them. They are called mouths and we will close them when we want to!”

Bella laughed silently to herself and slipped into the shadows behind the knights in the hallway. Who knew when Mrs. Norris might appear suddenly?

“Alright, we’re here,” James said quietly, pointing to a bare stone wall.

Lily stepped forward. “I want to open it!”

James bowed down low, allowing her to walk past him. “Do the honors, milady!”

Lily nodded, clearing her throat. “Parseltongue.”

Remus clapped softly as a door concealed in the stone slid away. “Nice work, Lily, I knew you could do it!”

She narrowed her eyes at him quickly and stepped inside the chilly room.

Breanna began pointing out jobs and positions. “James, you start working on transfiguring the chairs and tables. Sirius, Bella, you two work on the layout on the walls. You need to make it look as realistic as you can. Let’s see… Lily, you can manage all of the sounds and maybe set an alarm to cause everything to begin happening after we’ve left.”

She glanced around the room and grinned. “Peter, Remus, I just had another idea.” She began pointing up at each dormitory staircase and described her thoughts. “You two go up to the boys’ staircase and I’ll head to the girls’ dormitories.”

For the next hour, the Gryffindors worked in silence, correcting each other now and then. At a quarter till four, Lily began shooing everyone out of the Slytherin common room.

Breanna laughed the whole way back to their dormitories. It was the first time in a week she had felt at peace. The thought of her parent’s death was wiped clear from her mind. She was in her normal, peaceful mood and everything seemed right in the world.

“Mission accomplished,” she muttered, running down the hallway, laughing.

**Author's Note: Not much... But next chapter, something pretty big happens... which creates a large chain of events that builds up until the end!**

**Thanks!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	15. Framed

**Author's Note: I uploaded this next chapter way earlier than normal... But I really want to just get all of the chapters up. I've got another story that I've been writing and most of it is finished, so I'm planning on posting it really soon (hopefully within a week!) I want to post all the chapters to this story before I post a different story, so these may come out sooner than normal...**

**Chapter Fifteen: Framed**

“Oy! Prongs, wake up!”

James stirred, kicking around in his bed. “I don’t _want_ to play dollies today, Sirius! We can bake a cake tomorrow.”

Sirius scrunched up his left eye, thinking quietly to himself. Where were these thoughts _coming_ from? He ignored it for now. “James, we’re not going to play dollies! We’re going to watch our prank in action! C’mon, the Slytherins should be trying to come down any minute!”

This comment seemed to shake James from his dreams. “We’re – what? Oh, right.” He dressed into his robes and daywear as quick as he could and grabbed his book bag on the way out the door. “Where are Remus and Peter?”

“Peter wouldn’t get up and Remus said he’ll come down in a bit.”

James nodded, exiting through the portrait of the fat lady. “What about the girls?”

Sirius grinned. “Ah, I see! You want _Lily_ to come down, too, don’t you?” he teased, accenting the two syllables on Lily’s name.

James’ eyes widened at the mention of her name and he quickly hit Sirius on the arm, glancing around to see who had over heard. “Sirius, shut up! I don’t want everyone finding out, you prat.”

Sirius chuckled and massaged his arm. “I was just joking around, Prongs. Come on, can’t you take a joke?”

James shrugged, turning slightly red. “Not with this.”

The corner of Sirius’ mouth curled up into a slight smile. “I’m in the same boat, mate.”

James nodded, feeling slightly relieved. “Yeah?”

Sirius nodded and looked away. The two continued walking in a deep silence, each contemplating their own thoughts and fantasies. They reached the Great Hall almost too early for their liking, as their thoughts did not seem to want to end.

“Look!” Sirius hissed, trying not to make too much of a scene. “Here comes Snape now!”

James looked around and, sure enough, who was marching up to the Staff Table with only a towel around his waist? None other than Severus Snape – in the flesh.

“Mr. Snape! Why, pray tell, do you have a towel on without any clothing?” Professor McGonnagol shrieked, standing up.

Snape did not seem to mind the eyes of several students on him; not as long as he could pin the mess on the Marauders.

“Professor,” he started, clutching to the fuzzy towel around his waist and speaking directly to Dumbledore, “this morning, myself, along with the _rest_ of Slytherin house, found ourselves _not_ waking up in our beds, but, rather, on the floor!”

“I daresay you all must have had many nightmares, then,” he said good-naturedly.

Snape glared, one thing James had never seen him to do a teacher before. “Professor _Dumbledore_ ,” he hissed, narrowing his eyes, if possible, even closer together, “we were not even in our dormitories.” He whirled around and pointed directly towards James and Sirius. “Those two enchanted our Slytherin house!”

Both Gryffindor boys put on a look of mock-innocence, glancing at each other as if they were confused at his accusation.

Professor Dumbledore merely laughed. “What did they do this time?” he asked, as if this were a reoccurring event.

Snape spun back around, taking in a deep breath. “Those - ”

“Professor Dumbledore!” A young boy shrieked, running into the Great Hall. “Professor, this morning someone snuck into our common room! They _cursed_ it!”

“No, you dimwit,” Snape said, rolling his eyes at the first year, “they enchanted it.”

Slowly, the child looked Snape up and down and backed away, almost frightened. “Whichever,” he muttered to his feet.

James and Sirius began laughing at the spectacle being made in the center of the Great Hall, but their chuckles were cut short as a thin, bony hand grasped onto their ears and pulled them up out of their seats.

“All right, boys, what did you do?”

Both James and Sirius paled. The sight of their head of house at this moment was not the most pleasant. Her lips were clenched together, tight, and her eyes seemed to be shooting daggers at them.

“Well, you see, Professor - ”

“Neither of us had any part - ”

“They’re lying, making it all up - ”

“Would you _really_ believe him over us?” Sirius finished, holding his hands out in a defensive manner.

Professor McGonagall nodded affirmative. “Yes, I would, after the reputation you lot have made!”

“Oh, come off it!” Sirius said, crossing his arms across his chest. “It was a small little joke. We just transfigured a few things, charmed a little bit, nothing that can’t be fixed!”

“Small joke?” Snape hollered and began stomping across the hall. “Small _joke?_ You call this a small joke?” And without any warning whatsoever, he pulled away his towel, revealing, not what everyone had dreaded, but worse. Much worse.

Snape stood in the middle of the Great Hall with nothing but a Speedo swimsuit.

“What the - ” Sirius shielded his vision from Snape, trying to clear his mind of the sight before him.

James looked away as well, hearing several noises of disgust run throughout the Great Hall and one or two catcalls from the Slytherins grouped outside the doors in the hallway. “Well,” he said to Sirius, “this would be one thing that can’t be fixed – the sight will haunt my nightmares forever!” he yelled loudly. “Sirius, did you do this?” he yelled into his hands that covered his vision as well as the rest of his face.

He shook his head feverishly, still keeping his eyes away from Snape. “I didn’t do that! And for God sakes, man, put that towel back on!” he yelled to the floor instead of to Snape’s face.

Blushing slightly, he wrapped the towel around his waist, narrowing his eyes again. “You two will pay,” he hissed venomously.

McGonagall shook herself from her shock and grabbed a hold onto James’ and Sirius’ ears, dragging them out of the hallway. “Really!” she exclaimed. “I had thought your childish tricks and games would have worn off by your sixth year in school! Obviously I was wrong!”

Sirius laughed heartily. “Ma’am, you have no idea how incredibly wrong you were. Thinking such ludicrous thoughts…”

Sirius squealed high pitched as McGonagall gave a slight tug on his ear and continued dragging the two boys off, around the corner to her office.

“Sit,” she commanded sternly, pointing to the vacant seats across from her desk. As they lowered themselves into their chairs, McGonagall slammed the door closed and sat roughly down in her own chair, red in the face.

“One of these days, you two won’t have any chances left at this school! One of your jokes may go too far and Hogwarts will be no more for you; especially if you’re expelled.”

James rolled his eyes, yawning. She had given them the same exact speech on pranking since day one of their nightly excursions. And each time it was just as boring as the last.

McGonagall sighed. “At least, please try to hold off on your jokes against other houses. I would not mind it as much if you kept the jokes among your own friends and not bring others into the mess. We could use a few laughs every now and then, but nothing dramatic.”

James glanced over at Sirius quickly; his jaw dropped. This was not part of the usual speech…

She shook her head sharply and the old, stern-faced teacher appeared once again. “I dare say there were others involved in your prank?”

Both boys shook their heads rapidly. It was an unwritten law between them all. If only a few were caught pranking, let them be the only ones caught. As long as you could keep your friends innocent, the less caught the better. “It was just us two, Professor,” James said, as he had so many times before.

The teacher pressed her lips together, pondering over their statement. “Three week detention for you both, but not including the weekends. I know the next scheduled Hogsmeade trip is coming up soon, and I do not think that this crime is enough to keep you from your trips out of the school. You have the weekends off, lucky for you both. If it had been someone else or had I been in a bad mood, you would have lost Hogsmeade privileges for the rest of the year.”

James and Sirius nodded as if this were a fair punishment for them both – even though they could easily sneak to Hogsmeade whenever they wanted to, just as Sirius had the weekend prior.

“Thank you, Professor,” James said quickly, hurrying to say something before Sirius could ruin their good luck so far.

Sirius glanced at James slightly, partially annoyed at the fact that he was cut off from saying anything, and merely nodded in agreement.

“You boys are dismissed – and _please_ try not to get into any more trouble this week. I doubt your record could handle much more weight added onto it from your jokes – I fear that if it does, then your files would rip in half!” she said, more to herself than to them.

James snickered and stood, dragging Sirius to his feet behind him, and left the room in a hurried walk.

“Suppose we should give her a break?” Sirius asked as the door closed behind them and they walked down the hallway.

James grinned coyly. “We could – but we don’t have to. I mean, c’mon, tell me _one_ time when you actually listened to McGonagall.”

Sirius pondered for a few moments before his eyes lit up. “When she told us we could leave class early since we were ‘ruining her day.’”

James threw back his head and laughed heartily. “That’s probably the only time you ever listened.”

Sirius nodded, solemn faced. “Of course.”

James chuckled quietly to himself. Sirius was quite some character, nearly always willing to make someone laugh.

“James! Wait for me!”

The boys turned around, looking for where the source of yelling and running footsteps was coming from. James’ eyes lit up.

“Lily,” he said, stopping, “what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in the Great Hall eating?”

“I had something I needed to tell you – it’s important,” she said hurriedly, stopping just before colliding into James, resulting in her being closer to him than in a normal, every day conversation.

James turned his head slightly and gave Sirius a meaningful look.

Sirius’ eyes widened and he nodded, backing away. “I see – three’s company…” he muttered, walking down the hallway with a slight bounce in his step.

Lily laughed, grinning all the while.

“What made you so happy?” James asked, feeling just as giddy as Lily.

“Remember last week when we were talking before class? You showed me that all I had to do was be brave and – and go for it; that you didn’t think that guys I asked out would reject me. Remember, James? Remember?”

James laughed, putting his hands on her shoulders and looking her directly in the eyes. “Yes, Lily, I remember. What’s your point?”

She grinned. “I did exactly what you said I should do. I walked right up to the first single guy I knew – well, walked up to isn’t exactly the right words… But I asked him out!” Her eyes sparkled and a slight giggle emitted from her mouth.

However, James did not seem to look as happy. His hands on her shoulders seemed to grasp a little tighter and his arms drooped lower, weighing her down. Overall, James seemed to have paled slightly. “Really?” he croaked out.

Lily nodded and bounced up and down eagerly. “It’s Charles – he’s the Head Boy, you know? I saw Liz and Charles quarrelling last night as Remus and I walked back to Gryffindor Tower after the Prefect meeting. Isn’t it _wonderful?_ Well, not wonderful that they fought, really, even though I am _glad_ they did, but I just don’t – well, you understand,” she finished, grinning. “I wanted you to be the first to know.”

James nodded and dropped his arms to his side. “That’s really – something, Lily… Erm, congratulations.”

Lily hugged James tightly, in which he was taken by surprise. By the time the fact that she had her arms wrapped around him triggered in, it was too late to even hug her back. Before he knew it, she had bounded off down the corridor to, most likely, tell another.

“You’re real brilliant, Prongs,” James found himself speaking to himself. “Just let her go out with some guy she hardly knows. Your words were _great_ ,” he muttered sarcastically, letting his head roll back, leaning against a cold wall.

“What was brilliant?”

James snapped his head to the side just as Sirius, along with Remus and Peter, jogged from the end of the corridor to James. He groaned and slid down the wall into a sitting position, cradling his head in his hands.

“What’s wrong, James?” Remus said calmly, standing over James.

Sirius kneeled in front of James as Peter’s head bobbed up and down energetically.

James slowly pulled up his head and rubbed his eyes. “Lily asked out Charles Kroyce – the Head Boy.” Their heads nodded carefully as James breathed in and out slowly, as if this were taking every ounce he had to remain calm. “Apparently Liz and Charles were in a huge fight last night and Lily asked him out this morning.”

Sirius continued kneeling where he was and bit his lip. “Prongs,” he said quietly, “I’m really, _really_ sorry.”

James nodded and took in another breath and let it out quickly, heaving himself off the floor, to his feet. “Well, I have to face the music sometime. Anyone coming with?”

Sirius looked up at Remus who gave a slight shrug. Apparently, James was going to act as if he were not good enough for Lily and let any future chances he could have had with her pass by without a fight.

“James!”

Startled, James froze and turned his head to the side to see Sirius as he stood as well.

“You’re not going to pout about this anymore.”

“I’m not pouting, Sirius! Does it look like I’m - ”

“ _Yes_ , you are – on the inside!”

James’ eyebrow rose up into his hairline. “Sirius, you’re talking rubbish.”

“I am not – and you know it too.” He stepped closer to James, now in his face. “If you wanted Lily so badly, I would have thought you might’ve asked her out before she had the _chance_ to ask anyone else out!”

“Sirius, she doesn’t like me that way! I thought I told you that before.”

“But she does!” Sirius’ eyes were glowing with excitement. “ _You_ have to be the one who she can trust above all. _You_ have to be the one that she knows the best! When she breaks up, _you_ have to be the one for her to run to!” Sirius shouted, pressing a finger into James’ chest each time he said ‘you.’

“And how do you know they’re even going to break up?” James spat back out at his friend, eyes glinting.

“Because they’re not _meant_ for each other!” he said, bringing his voice down to a harsh whisper. “Charles, with his strict posture, and Lily with her outgoing attitude – there’s no way they will make it through this year!”

James sulkily looked away, swallowing. He nodded, breaking eye contact with Sirius. “Alright.”

A strong hand grabbed his upper arm and spun him around to find a set of gray eyes staring him down. “I’m serious, James. You are _not_ going to be moping around this place as if everything in your life is all wrong. We’re not going to have any pity parties. I don’t know about you, but I’m getting sick of all this crying I’ve been seeing this year.”

James seemed unfazed by this statement and showed no facial expression whatsoever, staring back at him. “I said ‘alright,’ Sirius.”

Both Remus and Peter began to fidget uncomfortably. Peter would rock back and forth on the balls of his feet as Remus would rub his hands together, slip them in his pockets, pull them back out and repeat the process continuously.

After what seemed like an eternity of glaring, Sirius let go of James and backed away, a look of understanding in his eyes. “So, what’s for breakfast again?” he said, walking briskly down the hallway with James in line beside him. “We were only there for a few minutes and then sent to McGonagall’s office.”

James shrugged and his bright eyes bounced back onto his face. “Not quite sure. Hey, you guys comin’?”

Picking up their jaws from off the floor, the remaining two Marauders trailed after them in a confused silence, not sure what just happened.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunlight poured into the girls’ room.

“Two minutes,” Lily mumbled, yanking the red hangings shut, closing off the path of the sunlight in her face.

The shuffling of feet filled the silent room and Lily rolled over, cautiously opening her eyes. The feet moved closer to her bed and opened her curtains abruptly, without much warning.

“Up,” Breanna yawned, pulling the sheets off Lily’s bed.

“Ugh… Don’t, it’s cold,” she said quietly, curling into a small ball and pulling the velvety red sheets back up to her chin.

“We _know_ , Lily,” Bella grumbled as she sat up and stretched. “That’s sort-of what happens in the middle of winter; it gets cold,” she said, lengthening the last vowel as a shiver crawled up her spine.

Lily nodded, brushing off the obvious sarcasm directed at her. She stepped onto the bare, stone floor but immediately recoiled from the ice beneath her. “Do you _think_ any of the Professors have ever thought about carpeting the floors up her? Perhaps individual fireplaces in each of our rooms?”

Breanna shook her head as she brushed out tangles in her hair. “I heard the Professors have carpeted floors in their rooms. They don’t care about us – probably think that since we’re young and energetic, we would be running around all day without worrying one bit about they weather!”

Bella rolled her eyes, yawning. “They care about us! At least, the house elves do. Haven’t you ever noticed the sheets always being warmer than the rest of the room? You would think the sheets would freeze along with everything else, but they’re not. The house elves put a warming charm on them to keep us from freezing overnight.”

“And the fireplace isn’t something the Professors are willing to risk just for warmth. Even if it’s not connected to the Floo Network, you can still hook it up if you wanted to,” Breanna said.

“What about the common room fireplaces?” Lily asked.

“Several charms and spells cast on them – the Professors don’t have enough time for fireplaces in every room. It’d be too much work for them.”

“You seem to know a lot about this Floo Network than the average person,” Bella said, smirking. “Have you attempted to leave before or something…?”

Breanna merely smiled slightly. “My parents did some work on Hogwarts fireplaces before.”

“Oh…”

The girls dropped the topic.

The room filled with an empty silence as each took turns using the bathroom for various reasons, readying their selves for the day.

“Defense Against the Dark Arts today, right?” Lily muttered as she picked up a stack of books.

Bella nodded and lifted her book bag over her shoulder. “I’m going downstairs. Coming?” she asked Lily.

“Be down in a minute,” Lily said packing her book bag quickly, seeing as she was now running late.

The two girls nodded to Lily and left, closing the door behind them quietly.

“Bloody – bag – doesn’t – fit!” The bag began to tear at the seam as she forcefully shoved books inside, the redhead inside of her taking over. “Get – in!”

Angrily, she threw her Defense Against the Dark Arts book across the floor, breathing heavily. “Alright, Lily,” she said quietly, calming herself, “you’re overreacting. Take a deep breath and think logically. What advantage do you have over your bag?”

Her gaze fell across her wand and Lily mentally kicked herself for not thinking of this option earlier.

A swish and slight flick, along with a few words, seemed to do the trick, expanding the bag on the inside. Smiling to herself, Lily dropped her books in her bag with ease.

She skipped down the steps to the empty common room, sprinted out of the portrait of the Fat Lady, and ran face first into a moving target.

Lily’s bag had taken the last straw and ripped as it fell to the floor, books toppling out. Her face flushed as she bent down and hurriedly picked up her books in her arms, muttering a quick, “Sorry, didn’t mean to – wasn’t watching.”

“It’s quite alright,” a smooth, deep voice replied. It was a male’s voice, one Lily seemed to partially recognize from someplace or another. She looked up into the eyes of Charles Kroyce.

Lily smiled and thought back to the night before.

Flashback

Grumbling, Lily held her red, aching hand. “Why is it always _me_ this happens to?”

“It’s not, Lily,” Remus replied for what seemed the two hundred and forty-seventh time.

“Yes it - ”

“Shh, Lily, quiet. What was that?”

The prefects looked around the dim hallway, expecting to find Filch show up at any moment. But the faint murmuring of voices drew their curiosity around the corner.

“I’ve seen you look at her,” a female spoke up, sharply.

“I haven’t – Liz, I swear! Do you honestly think I would pick her over you?” a male voice replied.

“You talk about her all of the time! ‘Lily this, Lily that’ – I’m sick of it! Until you figure out which direction you want to move in, we’re through!” the girl, presumably Liz, yelled in finality.

Lily nodded in her appreciation for the girl, dismissing the fact they were talking about her. It wasn’t everyday you saw a Hufflepuff tell off someone – much less, their _boyfriend_ , also known as Charles, the Head Boy – without crying or overreacting! _Impressive…_

“Wait – Liz, I’m sorry!” Charles called out, following her footsteps closely behind her.

Lily shook her head. “What a shame. Those two seemed to be getting along so well together.”

Remus looked at her dumbfounded. “They were talking about _you_ , Lily. Charles, apparently, has a sort of fondness for you.”

Lily rolled her eyes and scoffed at the absurd idea. “Oh, please. I bet Liz was just taking things too far, considering Charles stood up for me at the Prefect Meeting. She’s pretty overprotective when she wants to be.”

Remus shook his head and walked off.

“Hey! Where are you going? Wait for me!” she yelled stubbornly, her good mood replaced with a bad one.

End of Flashback

“Hi, Lily,” Charles said, kneeling onto the ground to help pick up her books. He stood, helping Lily to her feet as well. “I was just looking for you.”

“Oh, you – you were?” she said softly, taking back the books he handed her.

“Yes, I was going to accompany you down to breakfast. Is that alright with you?”

Lily nodded and repaired her bag quickly, shoving her books inside it once again. “That’s fine with me! I’d love it. But you would have had to go out of your way to come up to Gryffindor Tower, when your common room is on the opposite side of the castle, is it not?” she said, stating the obvious.

Charles replied with a quiet chuckle. “I daresay you have been hanging around with those Marauders too much. Soon you’ll be knowing, not only the common room places, but their passwords as well!”

Lily blushed. “Well, the Hufflepuff common room isn’t too cleverly hidden, considering fellow Hufflepuffs would be glad to show you where it’s at.”

Charles smiled. “I guess.”

The two walked in silence for a few minutes with Lily contemplating his words about her the night before, and then James’ own words popping into her head. _“Just boost your confidence a bit and I bet that any guy you asked out would say yes.”_

Lily swallowed and took the plunge. “Charles?”

“Yes?”

He turned his head, facing towards her and Lily backed down slightly. Then regained her confidence and looked him in the eyes. “Would you like to go somewhere this weekend?”

He smiled again. “Are you asking me out on a date, Miss Evans?”

Coyly, she replied. “I might be…” _This asking out stuff isn’t too bad!_ she thought, breathing a sigh of relief. “Would you be accepting?”

“I might be…”

The pair laughed together.

“Lily, I would love to go out with you this weekend. How about we go out to eat at Madame Puddifoot’s?” he asked.

“That’d be nice,” she said, grinning and looking past his shoulder at James and Sirius, laughing as they walked out of McGonagall’s office. “Hey, erm, Charles? I have to go talk to Professor McGonagall really quick. Go on to breakfast – I’ll see you there,” she said, taking a turn down the hallway, waving goodbye to Charles.

“I guess… See you,” he said, smiling feebly.

Lily ran down the hallway. “James! Wait for me!”

James spun around, smiling at her. “Lily, what are you doing? Aren’t you supposed to be in the Great Hall eating?”

“I had something I needed to tell you – it’s important,” she said, halting just before she ran into him, breathing heavily. She spilled her story and told of what happened between her and Charles. “Isn’t it _wonderful?_ Well, not wonderful that they fought, really, even though I am _glad_ they did, but I just don’t – well, you understand,” she finished, grinning. “I wanted you to be the first to know.”

James nodded, smiling slightly. “That’s really – something, Lily… Erm, congratulations.”

Lily threw herself on top of James and hugged him tightly, then spinning on her heels and sprinting back to the Great Hall for breakfast, not noticing James as he stayed behind, defeated.

“Bella – Breanna!” Lily called, rushing hurriedly over to the Gryffindor table.

“What? What is it?” Bella replied, putting her hand on Lily’s arm.

“Are you ok? What happened?” Breanna asked, pushing her into her seat.

“You guys are _not_ going to believe this,” Lily said, dishing large portions of food onto her plate.

“Oh,” the others relaxed, seeing as this was good news – a change, for once. “Well, what happened?”

Lily grinned, setting down her fork. “I asked _Charles Kroyce_ out on a _date!_ ” she squealed, excitedly.

“Oh, Lily! I’m so happy for you!” Bella yelled, hugging her best friend tightly as Breanna did the same.

“What’s up, ladies?” Sirius bent down and hugged Lily as he sat between her and Bella. “A little birdie told me that you have a new boyfriend!” he said, smiling at her. “Congratulations!”

Lily turned around to James, now sitting on the opposite side of her and hit him playfully on the arm. “Aw, I wanted to tell them!”

“Sorry,” he mumbled, looking at his food.

Lily shrugged. “It’s alright. I’m just so excited because, now, _this_ time _I_ asked _him_ out!”

“Excuse me, Madame, but may I sit here?”

Lily glanced up behind her for the second time and grinned as Charles bowed deeply. “Yes, you may,” she replied.

Charles sat down, slightly crushed, between James and Lily, smiling all the while, as James wore a heartbroken face, unable to force any more food down his throat.

_Bloody Hufflepuff, thinks he can just waltz into our lives with a mere ‘hello.’ Sure, he’s tall, and strong, and his hair lies flat… But that’s not the kind-of guy Lily looks for!_

**_Well, aside from the looks he’s pretty nice – personality wise._ That’s _what Lily looks for in a guy. And he’s Head Boy! What do you expect from the Head Boy? That’s mainly what gets people into the top spot, you know: knowledge and politeness._**

James glanced over at the happily speaking couples. _Lily doesn’t care about me anymore. Obviously someone else who’s better than me_ does _make her care._

**_Now, don’t talk to yourself like that!_ **

_Oh, shut_ up _already!_ James stood and stormed out of the Great Hall, not looking back.

!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later !!!!!!!!!!!!!

“Hey, James,” Lily’s cheery voice called as she entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady.

“Oh. Hello, Lily. Have a nice day?”

“I’ve barely seen you! Where were you?” she asked, sitting down on the couch next to him.

“You know, the usual,” James said, setting down his quill. “Well, I – uh…” James faked a yawn, stretching his arms about his head. “I’m getting pretty tired. All this homework, you know.”

Lily nodded, smiling. “Yep, I understand. See you in the morning?” she asked, hopefully.

“Sure,” he replied, packing his things up. “Until the morning.”

His footsteps up the staircase died away and Lily sat in her place for a few minutes more. Finally, seeing he obviously was not about to come back down, she left and got ready for bed herself.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“He’s _what?_ ” Bella squealed, clutching onto Sirius’ arm.

“Ow, ow, ow – Bella, honey – the death grip,” he said, making a face of pain.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” she muttered, letting go. Five sets of fingernail marks were left imprinted on his arm.

Sirius breathed a sigh of relief and massaged his arm. He knew James had told him not to tell Bella about this – but he was left with no choice! “He has been _miserable_ all morning without her – did you see the look on his face when Charles sat between them?”

“Didn’t catch it,” she said, thinking to herself.

“Bella, we have to do something to help him or he will go into suicidal mode.”

“Suicide?” she said, quickly snapping her head up. “You mean he’ll kill himself if he doesn’t have Lily?”

Sirius shrugged. “If he’s in love with her as much as he says, I wouldn’t completely rule out the thought, although it’s highly unlikely. I think.”

“Sirius, why didn’t you _tell_ me he loved her earlier?” Bella asked, placing her hand gently on his arm.

Sirius squirmed uncomfortably. “See, that’s the thing. James told me not to tell anyone. But – first – I had to tell you. I just couldn’t help it. And two – he really needs all the help he can get, and we won’t be able to keep him stable on our own.”

Bella smiled. “Well, I won’t tell him I know. But what about Breanna? Should I tell her also?”

“Do what you have to – without telling Lily, mind you – just keep James’ feet on the ground and don’t let him lose sight of the fact we’re all still here for him.” Sirius swallowed. “He has never once found someone he wanted this badly. At least before, he could talk to her, but now she has a boyfriend and that completely messes everything up!” Sirius yelled, throwing his arms in the air.

Bella raised an eyebrow. “So you’re trying to tell me this is all Lily’s fault?”

“Wha - ? Oh, no. No, no, no! I’m saying that the fact she has a boyfriend now is messing up the _process_ ,” Sirius said, looking back at Bella.

“The _process_? Look, Sirius, it’s James’ fault. He’s the one that didn’t ask her out in the first place because he was too _scared_!” Bella accused.

“ _What?_ ” Sirius said, taking this accusation to heart. “He is _not_ scared! He was probably just waiting for the right moment…”

“Oh, and I supposed Charles just stole it from him?” Bella rebounded.

“Bella,” Sirius said, holding his hands up for her to stop. “We’re going to stop acting like little children and act like adults.”

Bella paused, blinking. And she burst out laughing.

“What?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow, a smile curling on the corner of his lips.

“Sirius, this is the first, last, and only time I think I will ever hear you say to stop acting like little children. In case you haven’t noticed,” she said quietly, leaning in, “you _are_ a little child.”

Sirius laughed as well, ignoring the fact that she had called him a little child. _As long as she’s laughing…_ “It was none of their faults. Wrong timing, wrong time of year, no one’s to blame. Alright?” he said, smiling.

Bella shrugged and stood. “I guess.”

“Good! It’s all settled now. You’ll help, won’t you?” Sirius asked, standing with her.

“Of course,” Bella replied, linking her arm through his.

Sirius grinned, escorting her to her room.

Bella

Bella climbed out of bed and stretched, accidentally knocking her hand on the post near the bottom of the bed.

“Great,” she muttered sarcastically, massaging her sore hand. “What a wonderful start to the day…”

“What on earth are you doing up so early?” a muffled voice said, hidden behind curtains.

“Lily, just go to bed,” Bella whispered, trying to keep her voice down.

There was no response. Bella rolled her eyes, knowing the red head well enough that she had just fallen asleep on her.

She walked down to the Great Hall, still trying to stifle her yawns as she dished out a serving of hash browns onto her plate and began humming under her breath.

“Professor Sonetra!” a voice called, echoing throughout the nearly empty Great Hall.

Bella broke off in her humming and looked up, wide-eyed. Severus Snape was marching up to the staff table with a slight smirk on his face.

“What is it, boy?” the teacher hissed, standing up slowly.

“Those _Gryffindors_ painted our common room with their house lion.”

McGonagall stood abruptly, interested in his words. “ _Again?_ ” she questioned. “I told them to keep it between their own house!”

The greasy-haired boy crossed his arms in front of him with satisfaction. “And you think those trouble-makers actually _listen_ to a word you say?” he said smugly.

“They may be ‘trouble-makers,’ but they know when they’re taking something too far!” the teacher said, standing up for the Marauders, as if they were her own children. Bella laughed loudly from the other side of the room, making it look as if she were the culprit. _What?_ she thought. _It’s only a few detentions or so. Plus, those boys can pay me later._

“Why are you _laughing_ , Miss Figg?” Professor Sonetra shrilled high-pitched, down the long table. “We’re threatening detention at your little _friends_ and you’re _laughing?_ ”

Bella continued laughing, only this time standing to join the group huddled at the front of the room. “Professor McGonagall, I’m sorry, I couldn’t contain myself. I painted the Slytherin common room. I found out the password and let myself in. I’m sorry,” she repeated, looking sincerely apologetic. “I won’t do it again.”

Snape’s eyes widened. “No, wait, Professor, she didn’t paint our common room!”

“I _didn’t?_ Excuse me, I think I would know what I did and didn’t do!” she said, putting one hand on her hip.

“Professor,” Snape cut in, “it wasn’t her,” he said again, putting his hands palm down on the table in front of him, determined not to let the silly girl take the blame for this. It hadn’t been her, nor had it been either of the Marauders, it was Snape himself – but he would risk almost anything to get them in trouble. “I saw them down there in the middle of the night,” he lied swiftly. “I _know_ there was more than one person – I heard them!”

Rolling her eyes at him, she turned back to Professor McGonagall. “I was the only person there. You _must_ have been hearing things, Snape,” she said, glancing at him. “I was in a bad mood last night, so I let myself cool down by painting their common room.”

“Well,” the Professor said softly, shocked, “I’ve never had a child admit to a joke that quickly before…”

“Well, I’m not like everyone else,” Bella added, smiling sweetly up at her teacher.

“That, you’re not!” she said, regaining her normal strictness. “Miss Figg, please follow me to my office.”

Bella smirked at Snape and walked past him.

$$$$$$$$$$ Severus Snape $$$$$$$$$$

_The little –_

**_Watch your language._ **

Snape made a fist in his pocket around his wand and stomped back to his table, dropping into his seat angrily.

_I can’t believe she stepped up to take the blame! She didn’t do anything!_

**_And you would know._ **

Snape grumbled and crossed his arms as several other Slytherins entered the Great Hall. He had been the one to paint their common room! He was supposed to get the Marauders in trouble! Not _her!_

He pounded his fist on the table causing several goblets to shake slightly, a few threatening to tip over.

“Relax, buddy,” a smooth voice said from behind him, draping his arm casually on his shoulder, smirking down at him.

“What do you want, Rookwood?” Severus hissed, running his hands through his hair.

“What’s got your knickers in a twist?” Rookwood muttered, slipping into the spot beside him. Rookwood was a tall, rather strong seventeen-year-old, if he did say so himself. Usually people tended to steer clear of the brawny, black-haired student.

“Nothing,” Severus muttered sullenly, staring down at his plate. Rookwood was the last person he wanted to be speaking to right now. All he ever did was ridicule him. He was almost at the same point Potter was at on his list – but not quite.

“Well, nothing sure sounds a lot like something,” he said, taking a large swig of pumpkin juice. “I’d say Potter problems?”

“How’d you guess?” he growled, sarcastically.

He shrugged. “Other than the fact that he’s all you ever talk about?”

Snape glared at him, and threw his fork onto the table angrily, standing up.

“Whoa, buddy, I didn’t mean to get you angry, there,” Rookwood said, calmly, not flinching whatsoever at Snape’s reaction. “Just a bit pissed off.”

“Well, are you _happy_ now?” Snape shouted, eyes flashing dangerously.

Rookwood just sat solemnly, blinking occasionally. And then slowly, he turned and swung his leg around the bench so that he was straddling it. “Am I ever happy?”

He rolled his eyes and picked up his bag of books, but a muscular arm snatched out and pulled him back to eye level. “Look, Snape, I know we haven’t gotten along in the past, but now I’m giving up all of those petty fights we’ve had before.”

He paused, lowering himself onto the bench, now interested in what he had to say. “Why?”

Rookwood smirked. He had him now. “Because, I realized that we, really, are a lot the same and only really want to make his life miserable.”

Snape stood up abruptly, but once again, Rookwood’s arm shot out and jerked him back down.

“Let _go_ of me,” Snape hissed, tugging back on his sleeve.

“Not until you listen.”

“Make it quick,” he muttered, sitting down once again, giving in to Rookwood easily – better to just get it over with.

Rookwood sighed and lowered his voice, leaning in slightly. “Look, Potter’s a threat to you and I’ve decided I’m going to help you get rid of him for once and for all.”

“A threat? Get rid of – look, you’ve gotta be joking,” Snape said, obviously unconvinced. Then he paused and looked back up at him. “What’s in it for you?”

Rookwood smirked and leaned back, looking casual and relaxed as he always appeared. “You’re a bright one. He warned me about you.”

Snape’s brows furrowed. “He? He who?”

Rookwood smiled. “You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

Snape swallowed. “Are you one of them?” he asked, trying to sound brave.

Rookwood grinned, his teeth bared similar to that of a vampire’s. “Not at this point in time. However, I will be once the school year is out.” He smiled, enjoying this now. “On graduating day, I will become part of his inner circle. I won’t even wait for the train ride home. I have my apparating license. I will meet him there.”

Snape swallowed and casually nodded, more attentive than before. “And Potter – he’s in the way?”

“Exactly.” Rookwood’s smile faded and he became serious again. “If I get rid of him, the Dark Lord shall always hold _me_ higher than the others. I will be second in command.”

Snape snickered slightly. Rookwood’s face darkened and he stared straight ahead into Snape’s eyes. “I don’t see what’s funny.”

“Voldemort won’t want _you_ to kill Potter! He’d probably kill _you_ if you killed Potter – he’s been after him for so long, if I didn’t know any better, Voldemort would want to kill Potter himself to prove he could do it himself, not use his supporters to do dirty work such as killing a boy!” Snape exclaimed.

“Keep it down, would you?” Rookwood whispered urgently. For the first time Snape had ever seen, Rookwood was actually scared. _Of being caught, the little rat…_

“Anyway,” he said, cutting into his thoughts, “I just thought, you know, we could team up against Potter, maybe get him for good.”

Snape smiled slightly and stood up, this time without sudden movements. “I’ll sleep on it.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Boys Dormitories ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“Seems like we’ve all been here before,” James muttered, lying down on his bed.

Lily nodded, yawning. “Except for the fact that Sirius was in detention and now Bella is.”

“Yeah, because she was taking the blame for you guys!” Breanna said loudly, smirking.

“Look, we’ve already told you several times, we never pulled a prank on the Slytherins last night!” Sirius protested, sitting upright.

“I know, I was only joking around…” Breanna muttered, quieting down.

Remus smiled. “Well, at least Bella got only one detention. Normally, when we’re in trouble, it’s a question of how many _weeks_ we’re in detention. I guess it’s because she only did it once…”

“And because we’re all innocent angels,” Lily chimed in, sitting onto James’ trunk, delicately as if she were an angel.

“Yeah, right,” James scoffed, rolling over onto his stomach.

“I beg your pardon,” Lily said, grabbing a fistful of James’ hair, smirking.

“Ow – ah – Lily! That hurts! Let go - ”

Lily giggled at the look on his face. “Say we’re the cutest little angels that ever touched earth.”

“You’re the cutest little angels!”

She gave a slight jerk on his hair upward, causing him to cringe. “That ever touched earth.”

“That ever touched earth! Now let go of me!”

Lily shrugged and released his hair, crossing her legs with a smile. However, she didn’t realize he was about to pounce her soon after.

“James! Get off of me!”

James smirked as he pinned her on the floor, arms held above her head. “Now, I want you to say that I’m the strongest and most popular guy in school.”

Lily rolled her eyes and stopped struggling. “You’re the strongest and most popular guy in school.”

James frowned and stood up. “That wasn’t as satisfying as I thought it would be.”

Lily smacked him in the arm.

“Oy, what was that for?”

“Because I always have the last say in things.”

James narrowed his eyes at her good naturedly. “No, you don’t.”

“Oh, yes, I do.”

“Oh, no, you don’t.”

“Yes I do.”

“Lily, just be quiet!”

“You can’t make me.”

“Oh, yes I can.”

“No, you - ”

“Would you two shut up?” Remus yelled, picking up the mirror. “Hey, Bella, what’s going on? What are you supposed to be doing for punishment?”

“I’m stuck with Professor Sonetra – I’m supposed to be filing old school papers into alphabetical order by name and then by year into these old filing cabinets she has,” Bella said, her voice echoing throughout the silent room.

Sirius snatched the mirror from Remus, sitting back down on his bed, grinning broadly. “So, what else is goin’ on, baby,” Sirius said in, what he thought, was a seducing manner, raising his eyebrow suggestively.

“Oh, please,” Bella groaned. Lily smirked at Sirius.

The pair of “lovebirds,” more than one couple, continued talking for the next hour together while Bella kept sorting papers.

“Has there been any more, uh… You know…” Lily said quietly crawling onto James’ bed, lying down next to him.

James merely shook his head and wrapped his arm protectively around her, temporarily forgetting about Charles and Lily not being “his” anymore. “I haven’t seen a thing. So far so good,” he said feebly, smiling slightly, looking down towards Lily.

Lily nodded and rolled onto her side, facing away from James. She then reached for his hand and pulled his arm around her waist, feeling safe. “Well, just tell me whenever something does happen.”

Flustered, James burned bright red and tried to act normal. “Ok, I - ”

“Sirius!”

James and Lily sat bolt upright, alert, looking at the mirror. And hurriedly, the six Gryffindors huddled around the mirror, staring at Bella. “What is it?” James said urgently.

Bella didn’t answer.

“Bella, what did you find?” Sirius questioned, referring to the paper in her hand.

Bella swallowed and turned back to the mirror, holding the paper up for everyone to see.

Lily squinted, but saw nothing but a jumble of letters. “Bella, just tell us what it says.”

Bella laughed slightly and then stopped abruptly; almost shocked she had just let out a giggle. “Look, you guys were right – Professor Sonetra’s a Death Eater.”

“Well, that was kind-of obvious, wasn’t it?” Breanna said, putting her hand on her hip, and biting down on her lip out of a nervous habit.

“Well, this – this _note_ , it’s from Lord V-Voldemort himself!” Bella exclaimed in a whisper. “Well, at least, it’s from someone in their inner circle, there’s no name. But - ”

“What does it say!” Breanna shouted.

Bella laughed again, but this time sounding actually happy. “Breanna – your parents – they’re alive!” 

**Next chapter: People are celebrating over this happy news - but who isn't? Also, big James/Lily development... :D**

**The sixteenth chapter will show up soon...**

**Thanks!**

**Yours truly,  
Amelia Bedelia**


	16. Metamorphosis

**Author's Note: This is definitely one of my favorite chapters... I loved writing it. Actually, I loved writing everything from here to the end... :D**

**Chapter Sixteen: Metamorphosis**

_"Breanna – your parents – they're alive!"_

Breanna paled. "Bella, you better stop joking around before I strangle you," she hissed, lunging towards the mirror, regaining her strength, although twice as much of it with adrenaline pumping through her blood.

"I'm not lying!" Bella said, her voice muffled as Sirius snatched the mirror from Breanna's reach and held it close to his chest.

"Breanna, this is a priceless mirror!" he shouted, glaring at her.

"I don't care about your _stupid_ mirror, Black!" she shouted, jumping on his back and grabbing a lock of his hair, yanking as hard as she could.

"Breanna!" Remus jumped into the picture and wrapped his arms around Breanna's waist and pulled her back, falling onto the floor. Moving quickly, he pinned her underneath him, staring back at her red face.

"Damn it, Remus, if you don't - "

"Breanna, you need to _stop_ right now and _calm down!_ "

She took several breaths and, struggling, she tried to keep a straight face. "Remus," she whispered, barely audible, "my parents are _dead_. They can't be alive, they found their bodies."

James shrunk away from the crowd, listening to Breanna's words. She was right; they had found their bodies – so then why was Bella pulling this cruel trick…?

He stepped forward towards Sirius and took hold of the mirror. "Bella, you better not be lying, so help me God, I will hurt you dearly."

Sirius stared up at his friend with wide eyes and the room fell dead silent, James unmoving, his eyes blazing with a fury, one Lily had never seen before.

Soft sobs emitted from Breanna, and the room tensed, if possible, even more.

"James," Bella stated calmly, "I _swear_ , I'm not lying. I – oh, just hang on," she muttered exasperatedly.

James lowered the mirror and dropped it onto the floor with a slight thud, staggering backwards and sitting on his trunk. He began to run his hands nervously through his hair and Lily swallowed, covering her mouth nervously with her hand. She looked hard at him, trying to figure out what his thoughts were, if only she could get into his head. Whatever it was he was thinking, they couldn't have been anywhere near happy thought whatsoever.

Bella ran into the room, hitting the door on the way in, accidentally slamming it into the wall behind it. "Look," she hissed, glaring at the silent group, holding out a piece of parchment.

James raised his head, his face blank. Slowly, without acknowledging the paper whatsoever, he dropped his head into his hands again and closed his eyes, groaning slightly.

Sirius stood up, protectively behind Bella and placed one of his hands on her shoulder while he reached around to take the note with his other and read it silently. "Bella, you can't possibly think this is good news," he whispered quietly to her.

Lily's eyebrow's furrowed and she snatched the note. She swallowed, keeping the lump in her throat down as she choked up a small hiccup of joy. "Breanna, they're alive – they're really alive!" Lily shrieked, a tear making its way down her cheek unnoticed.

Breanna stood up, her breathing very ragged. She walked over. Each step she took seemed to take every amount of strength she had left in her.

"They're _torturing_ my parents tonight?" she whispered, reading the parchment aloud to the room. Breanna swallowed. "Ok, so they're still alive, but in pain. Great."

"Yes!" Bella shouted, stepping away from Sirius' protection. "Breanna, look at the big picture – you're parents are _alive!_ "

Breanna's eyes scanned the note several more time before a smile crawled across her face and tears streamed down her cheeks. She dropped the note and turned to face Remus, behind her. "They're alive," she whispered.

Remus let out a loud laugh and hugged Breanna as tight as he could. The room seemed to explode from there. Bella and Sirius began dancing around the room, laughing all the while, and Lily ended up making small sparks on the ceiling with her wand. Peter even joined in with the festivity and found some noisemakers that he spun around, laughing. But there was one person who didn't seem to want to celebrate.

While the others were wrapped up in their excitement, James stood abruptly to his feet and left the room, running down the steps and leaving their dormitory door wide open.

"James!" Lily's feet thudded down the stairs in her attempt to catch James before he went anywhere. "James, what's wrong!"

She tumbled into James. He had turned around once Lily called his name, but as he caught her, it wasn't in the loving grip Lily had always known.

"What do you want, Lily," he muttered, staring hard down at her.

Lily was speechless. He was breathing down on her face with raspy gasps. His eyes had turned from their beautiful hazel to a dark black and seemed to be penetrating her own eyes. James' whole face had a fierce look. Frightened, Lily backed away and pulled her arms away from where he had once had a tight grip on her wrist.

James blinked, slightly shocked, and his heavy breathing slowed.

"I'm sorry," he whispered and started to walk away.

Lily stared down at her hands. Wringing them, she finally got up the courage. "Wait, James, come back."

Calmly, he turned around with a slightly irritated look. "What?"

Lily raised an eyebrow. _What? What's_ wrong _with you?_

"James, what happened?"

"What happened to what?" he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest stubbornly. "What happened to yesterday, what happened to Sirius, _what?_ "

Lily's jaw dropped. She had never seen this side of James before. He had never acted this out of character before. "James, what happened up there – what's wrong with being happy for Breanna? Her parents are _alive_ , and you didn't even smile!"

"Well," he snapped, forcing a smile on his face, "maybe I'm not in a smiling mood anymore."

The red-head finally lost her temper. "James, damn it, if I don't get some reason why you're being a _selfish_ , pompous little dirt bag, then I – well, I'll - " Lily struggled, searching for a word. But with a sigh, she stepped forward into James' face, looking up at him. "Why aren't you happy?"

He put his hands on Lily's shoulders. "I don't really want to deal with it anymore right now, Lily, I'm sorry."

"Why won't you just tell me – I can help!"

"Lily, you have to let me do this on my own."

"James, I swear, I can help!"

"Lily, I - "

"No, I want to help! Just - "

Thoughts flew around James' head. He was being overwhelmed by the present. Breanna's parents were _alive_. All of his friends were at stake, just because he was a Potter. But worse, Lily – Lily _Evans_ – was standing no more than a foot away from him, overpowering any self-control he had left in him.

But without warning, without any sense left to realize what he was doing, James leaned in and kissed her.

He _kissed_ her.

He no longer felt as if he _had_ a body left, he was merely a thing floating around in a crazy, messed up world, but _she_ had to come along, make everything twice as hard as it had been before.

Abruptly, as soon as it happened, Lily pushed away, gasping for air.

Silence loomed over them.

"I have to go."

James bolted from the room.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lily stared, wordless, as pictures moved around her. One moment, she was yelling at James to tell her why he was angry, the next his lips were on hers.

Now he was gone.

Slowly, Lily brought her hand up to her mouth and touched her lips, closing her eyes. There was something there; and she knew it.

She would never, _could_ never, think of him as a normal friend again.

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Dumbledore's Office ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"I'm really sorry," James repeated for about the fifth time that night, attempting to keep his feelings bottled inside of him. He was feeling the best he had ever felt in his life, but at the same time felt like it was the _worst_ day of his life.

"No need," Dumbledore's wispy voice sounded from his chair. "I wouldn't have gotten to sleep for another hour or so yet."

James smiled slightly, trying not to stare at his Headmaster's vividly purple-colored pajamas. "I needed to talk to you. As soon as I could."

"Of course, any student is welcome."

James nodded and swallowed. "Professor, you remember when my parents talked to you about our family being the Heir of Gryffindor, right?"

"Yes, I believe so," he said.

"And you remember when they said each person had a unique gift that came along with it?" he added, feeling nervous for some reason.

"Yes, and I assume you have figured out what yours is now?"

James nodded solemnly. "Professor, I can see whenever there's dark spells or curses used."

Dumbledore stopped nodding his head as he had been before and leaned in closer to James. "You can see them?" he questioned, without any expression on his face.

James bit his lip and stood, pacing around the room. "Yes!" he shouted. "Professor, I didn't just see the dark curses used, I saw people dying – I still do at night! And Professor Sonetra – she's really a Death Eater. But Breanna's parents aren't really dead!"

Dumbledore blinked and looked down at his hands, thinking. Then he looked back up. "What is this about Professor Sonetra?"

"She's a Death Eater!"

"James, you realize if you make a false accusation, the consequences could be horrid."

"I _realize_ that, Professor! But I know she's a Death Eater – I _saw_ her at the meeting!" James stopped in his path in the floor and reached up for his hair. He raced his hand through, making it stand up in several different directions.

Professor Dumbledore nodded. "I shall look into that further. Now, your next problem – Breanna's parents? You say they're alive?"

James nodded and stepped up to his desk, leaning his hands on the edge. "We found a note explaining what was supposed to happen tonight or something. It said they were still alive and were going to be tortured for information of some sort."

"And you found this note…?"

"On Professor Sonetra's desk."

Dumbledore smiled, looking as if he weren't taking anything of what James said seriously. "Why were you rummaging through her stuff?"

"I wasn't – Bella was." James shook his head and continued on. "Well, she was sorting papers for her detention and found it," James spoke, matter-of-factly.

Dumbledore nodded. "So who do you propose are the two people the Ministry of Magic thought were her parents?"

James threw his head in his hands and fell back in the chair, defeated. "I don't know," he moaned, rocking back and forth. "I have no idea what to take from this. Either Voldemort killed two random people who drank a long-lasting type of polyjuice potion to trick everyone else – or he already knows about my 'secret powers,' because he has a seer of his own and is trying to mess with my mind."

Dumbledore nodded again. "And that last reason is the exact reason why I don't want to jump to conclusions with Professor Sonetra."

James' jaw dropped to the floor. "Professor! If you _saw_ what I did, you would know that she's a Death Eater! Check her arm tomorrow," James added defiantly, "She should have a Dark Mark there, remember?"

Dumbledore stood up and walked around his desk, standing next to James' chair. "I am fully aware of this and there being other evidence you might have leading to this thinking. But one must never jump to conclusions unless knowing they're one hundred percent correct."

James stood up again abruptly, but Dumbledore caught his shoulder, holding him where he stood. "You need to learn to be patient, James."

James just shook his head, disappointed. "Sorry, Professor. I'll be going now," he muttered, walking down his staircase and out from behind the Gargoyle statue.

_Why won't Dumbledore just_ believe _me? Breanna's parents are alive – the note was in her office!_ James kicked the stone wall angrily, but continued walking down the hallway, ignoring the pain throbbing in his toe.

He took several deep breaths and slowed his fast-paced walk, to a relaxing, calm walk. _Oh well. I guess I'll tell Lily what's going on now._ James paused; then proceeded to hit himself in the head. _Never mind._

He couldn't go back the Gryffindor Common Room now. Lily would most definitely be there, and he couldn't risk seeing her now. All because he let his emotions get the best of him.

_But, Lord, if that wasn't the best thing in the world, I don't know what was,_ James thought, smiling to himself about the thought of him kissing her.

He allowed his feet to lead the way as they took a familiar course down the hallway. Straight to Helen's room.

James put his finger up to the wall and wrote.

_Lily's not inside, is she?_

**_No, dear, why do you ask?_ **

_Can you let me in?_

A small doorknob popped out of the door and James turned it, and stepped inside the cold room.

He took in a shuddering breath and immediately pulled his cloak around him tighter and began coughing from the pain of the icy stabs in his throat.

James sighed in relief as he saw the four-poster bed in the corner of the room. He peeled off his robe and his shoes, leaving only his pants and t-shirt on as he pulled back the corners of the bed.

Then, he froze and felt a familiar feeling coming to him. His mind left his body as he shook uncontrollably, sweat dripping down his face.

He jolted and realized he was no longer in Helen's room. At least, his full mind wasn't there.

_"Tell me where this person is…" Voldemort hissed at three victims, sitting on the dirt floor with, what looked like, normal work robes._

_"We have no idea what you're talking about," a young woman muttered, bowing her head and shaking slightly._

Don't say anything! _James thought to the people. He hadn't a clue what they were talking about, but whatever it was, Voldemort shouldn't know._

_"You all know exactly what I'm talking about. You've been doing research on an unknown subject," he said calmly, allowing his lips to curl up into a vampire-like smile, "and all I want to know is where it is. Then I shall leave you all to your own business and return you to your homes," he said offhandedly._

_"Look, we don't know!" Breanna's father yelled, gaining a large amount of courage. But not even a second later, he realized what he had done and was quiet._

_Voldemort smirked at him, baring his teeth, and turned to a robed Death Eater. "Sonetra, I do believe you said they knew."_

_The figure bowed down in agreement._

_"Then why are they not telling us?"_

_"M-maybe we could, uh…" she stopped talking, apparently searching for the correct words to say. "We could give them Veritaserum," she muttered weakly._

_"What was that?" he questioned, stepping closer to her, narrowing his eyes. "Did you say Veritaserum? Funny," he muttered, "I had told you over a week ago to get a vial of Veritaserum. So it should be here, shouldn't it?" he questioned, inches from her shaking figure._

_"No, master," she whispered._

_"No? You forgot the Veritaserum?"_

_She trembled. "Yes."_

_There was silence. The other robed figures around them didn't dare to move. Even the leaves in the trees had stopped blowing._

_"Miss Sonetra, you have failed me for the last time." Abruptly, he pulled his wand out from his pocket and pointed it at her._

_"_ Avada Kedavra _," he hissed, eyes blood red._

_A shrill scream sounded, echoing throughout James' head._

His mind flew back into his body, giving him a sudden jerk. Thrown off balance, he toppled backwards, over his feet, and landed, crashing his head into the corner of the coffee table.

The room went black.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lily woke early, dressing before her other two roommates' alarm clocks had even gone off, and sprinted down the steps, hearing voices. Looming just over the top of the couch was a messy head of black hair.

"James?" she said, anxiously.

The boy on the couch turned around, revealing the face of a younger student, Lily knew nothing about. She sighed and forced a smile on her face. "Sorry, she muttered," and left through the portrait of the fat lady.

"Lil'! Hey, Lily, over here!"

Lily spun on her heels anxiously, grinning. And ever so slightly, her smile slipped off her face. "Oh, hey, Charles."

"Hi," he muttered under his breath as he caught up to her from behind, smiling. "I went to the portrait and the fat lady said you had left early."

Lily shrugged and started walking. She wasn't exactly in the mood to talk to Charles much this morning. Really, it was a bit awkward, especially after what had happened the night before…

"So," he muttered, attempting to take a stab at making conversation, "why'd you leave so early?"

"No reason," she lied, swiftly.

"Oh," he muttered, scratching his head. "So, you weren't looking for anyone in particular?"

Lily swallowed anxiously, color rising to her face. "Not really, why?"

He shrugged, smirking. "Well, I guess it'd be better if you weren't trying to sneak by me and find some other guy I didn't know about."

Lily forced out a laugh, biting her lip. "And why would you think I would cheat on you?"

Lily tensed as he found her hand and squeezed it. "You never know, you might actually start liking Potter," he said, jokingly.

"Yeah, you never know," she muttered, smiling up at him. "Well," she said, pulling her hand out of his grip, hoping it didn't look as if she was _wanting_ to get away from him for now. "I'm going to go to the library for a bit, you know – last minute homework."

"Ah," he laughed, "you're the perfect model of the future Head Girl."

Lily blushed. She couldn't help it, even if she wasn't in the mood for him at the moment, compliments could still touch her cheeks. "Thanks," she muttered, looking down.

Smiling, Charles put his hand underneath her chin and tilted her face up, kissing her on the cheek.

"Meet me tomorrow night by the main entrance at seven; we'll go to Madame Puddifoot's, then.

Lily nodded, in a daze. "Sure."

Charles picked up her hand and gave it a quick peck, leaving her blushing as he left down the corridors.

_Why me? Why_ now _?_

Bella

_Today has been one of the best, yet one of the worst days. Last night we found out that Breanna's parents were still alive, thanks to me. Though I had to take a detention in order to get it…_

_But at the same time we were all "rejoicing" and "being merry," James left the dormitory, with Lily close behind, as always. I swear, nothing separates those two anymore. Well, except for the fact that James is in love with her and she already has a boyfriend, WHO, I might add, is_ not _James. Therefore, leading to the fact that James is wallowing in self-pity – according to Sirius._

_Anyway, back on track here. James left the room quickly, as did Lily, and he went somewhere in the castle, unknown to everyone. Now he's missing and no one can find him. He's skipped all of his classes and by the time dinner came, we decided to put together a small search party. Sirius, Remus, and Peter searched all of the secret rooms/passages/hallways/dungeons/anything-else-they-found-that-no-one-else-knows-about, while Breanna and I checked the grounds and Lily took over the remaining classrooms._

_I hardly doubt he's anywhere outside. If he is, I sure hope he's got his cloak with him – it's way below freezing out there. Breanna and I just got back not too long ago, but we're still waiting in the common room for the others to return._

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lily walked slowly down the hallway, stopping at every door she found along the way, opening and searching. Each time, she held her breath, hoping for James to jump out, yelling, "Surprise!" and it would all have been just a game. But he never did.

_Well, if he can hide from the rest of the Marauders, he obviously doesn't want to be found,_ she thought, opening a closet door, filled with brooms.

She paused.

_He doesn't want to be found…_ Lily smacked herself in the forehead and bolted down the hallway. _Of course!_ she thought, mentally kicking herself. _He's at Helen's! His friends don't even know about the room!_

Lily screeched to a halt, just as she reached the wall and held her hand in the air, midway to the wall.

"He doesn't _want_ to be found…" she muttered, repeating her thoughts. Her hand lowered and Lily backed away. _Why invade his space when he doesn't want to be found. It's_ his _choice to hide from us all. Just_ stupid _he'd even think of coming here – he knows that I come here frequently! Unless he_ wanted _me to find him, but not any of his other friends to find him…_

Lily frowned and scratched her head. She seemed to be chasing her thoughts around in circles, bringing them back to where she had begun, only confusing herself. _Aw, hell._

Lily stepped forward and put her forefinger to the wall. _Helen, can you let me in?_

**_Lily! Thank goodness you're here!_ **

Lily's eyebrows furrowed and she spun the doorknob, stepping inside hurried.

She stopped. Lying in the middle of the floor was none other than James.

"Oh, my god, James!" Lily whispered, running to his side. She froze as she kneeled on the ground, staring at him. He wasn't moving. In fact, he looked as if he could have been dead. The only thing that kept Lily's hopes up was the fact that his chest kept rising and falling, even though it wasn't very noticeable.

Lily glanced up at the shattered glass coffee table. She put a hand on his face, holding back tears as hard as she could. He was pale. Lily tried opening his eyes. Unconscious. He was cold, nearly frozen.

She lost her guard for a moment and let one tear fall, but soon regained her strength. She pulled off her cloak and threw it on top of his cold body, hoping beyond anything that it could at least help in the slightest.

Lily lifted up his head and cradled him in her arms.

But then she felt something wet on her arms.

And it fell down onto her clothes.

Lily looked down and pulled her arm out. There was blood trickling down her arm. On the floor, even more blood, in the spot James had just been lying with pieces of shattered glass along the floor.

Lily swallowed and put his head down gently. She then attempted to pick him up by the torso and drag him across the floor. Lily managed to get nearly a foot and then fell onto the floor, underneath his body.

"Oh, no you don't," she hissed, wrapping her arms underneath his and continuing to drag him.

Lily turned and looked at the wall doorway – it was already open. Helen had opened it for them. She smiled gratefully and continued dragging James out, watching the door slowly close as they left.

She could feel the blood seeping through her clothes, sticking to her, but could care less. The only thing on her mind was getting him to the Hospital Wing. If it weren't for that fact that he could be dead if the smallest thing went wrong, Lily would not have kept going as long as she did.

It wasn't until she reached a set of steps she finally collapsed under the weight and began breathing heavily. She continued holding his head up, not pushing him off in anyway.

"It's ok, James," she muttered. "If you can hear me, it's ok, everything will turn out fine."

James' eyes cracked open and Lily squealed in joy. "James!"

But as soon as they had opened, they were closed again, showing no trace of him ever being awake in the first place.

"James – James, wake up, I know you're awake. James!" she shouted, turning his face to look at hers. Again, he seemed to be unconscious.

"Lily, what on earth are you doing?"

Lily looked up, her heart racing. _Finally_ , there was someone to help her! "Charles! Quick, come over here!" she hissed, pulling James up slightly, managing to kneel on the floor, supporting his unconscious body.

"Oh my – Lily, what happened?" he muttered with a dark look on his face.

"Hit his head on a glass table – he's been knocked out for several hours but I didn't find him until just now. Help me take him up to the infirmary!" Lily said, hopefully.

Charles nodded and immediately reached down and picked James up without any signs of effort showing. He ran up the steps and out of sight, leaving Lily behind.

Finally surrendering to her tears, Lily pulled her knees up to her face and wrapped her arms around her legs securely, sobbing.

<><><><><><><> Remus <><><><><><><>

"Where on earth is James? He's only done this once before when we were all at each other's throats!" Sirius shouted, pulling at his hair. "This isn't like him, just running off and skipping classes for a full day!"

Bella was sitting upright on the common room couch, hands crossed in her lap calmly. She didn't say anything.

Sirius sighed and fell onto the couch next to her. "Did you and Breanna find anything outside?"

"Nothing," Breanna muttered, shrugging.

Remus picked up where Sirius had left off and began pacing the common room.

The portrait opened and Lily fell through, looking as if she were about to fall over, legs nearly collapsing under her. Lily's face was covered with tears, along with old tear tracks, and she was covered with blood down her front.

"Lily, what – what _happened?_ " Bella said, standing up and moving over to support Lily, with one hand around her shoulders and the other holding her under the arm.

The rest of the seventh years swarmed around her, checking to make sure she was alright.

"James!" she managed to choke out, wiping the tears running down her face. "He's – Charles took him to the Hospital Wing."

Sirius bolted from the room, speeding down and out of sight.

"Lily, honey," Breanna said softly, "can you tell us what happened?"

Lily let out a muffled scream and fell to the floor in a heap, sobbing. The others went down with her, attempting to calm her.

"Shh, Lily, it's ok, everything will be fine," Bella whispered, biting her bottom lip. She had no idea what was going on – but everything _had_ to be ok in the end, didn't it?

"Come on, Lily, let's go to the Hospital Wing," Remus said, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her shakily to her feet. "You can lean on me if you want," he said, taking her arm and pulling it around his neck.

"We're right here next to you," Bella said, holding Lily's hand tightly in her own.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"James!" Lily choked out. "He's – Charles took him to the Hospital Wing."

Sirius bolted from the room and down the corridor. His friend – his _best_ friend – was in the Hospital Wing, and the news of this came from a sobbing girl. You'd start running too.

Ideas popped up in Sirius' head, followed by even more gruesome thoughts.

He skidded to a stop in front of the swinging infirmary doors, and then sprinted through.

"Where's James?" Sirius thundered, looking around the room with wild eyes.

"Black, keep your voice down," a deep voice boomed from behind. Sirius turned and saw Charles. He stepped forward and grabbed a fistful of his school uniform and shoved him against the wall.

"Where the hell is James?" Sirius repeated, narrowing his eyes.

"There's nothing you can do but _wait_ now," Charles hissed, glaring back. "Get your paws off me."

Sirius dropped his hands, but didn't look away. "Where is James," he stated, without question.

Charles crossed his arms calmly. "James is in the back with Madame Pomfrey."

"What happened to him," Sirius stated again.

"No idea," Charles muttered, shrugging.

Sirius balled up his fist and hit the wall, angrily, narrowly missing Charles' head. He walked away, pacing the room.

"It won't help when you're stomping around like that, Black," Charles said softly, watching his back.

Sirius turned, about to attack Charles again, but managed to control himself. "I'll walk however the hell I want, got it?"

Charles shrugged and left the room to find Lily.

He heard soft voices and a few sobs every now and then.

"Lily!" he called, walking closer to her, speaking quietly once he approached them. "I'll take her from here, thanks," he muttered.

"Charles, what did she say?" Lily managed to say hoarsely.

"She didn't say anything, Lily," he whispered, helping her to the Hospital Wing. "She hasn't come out since I brought James in."

Lily nodded and wiped her face of fresh tears.

They walked the last few steps in silence and entered into another deadly quiet zone.

Sirius stood and approached Charles. "Sorry," he muttered, running a hand through his hair. "I was kind-of freaking out earlier, didn't mean to hurt you or anything."

"Look," Charles said, helping Lily to a chair, "it's fine. I completely understand. The whole 'my best friend's hurt and I have no idea what to do' thing is perfectly normal in this situation."

Sirius laughed. "Thanks," he said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"No problem," he muttered, looking down at Lily. She was pathetic. Her hair was no longer neatly tied back in a pony tail, but in every odd angle you could imagine. Her eyes were red from crying so hard and tear stains covered her face. Not to mention the fact that James' blood was all down her front.

Cautiously, he sat on the armrest and reached a hand out and touched her face, pulling some loose strands of hair away. Lily looked up at him. "It'll be ok, Lily," he whispered, smiling slightly.

Lily nodded and looked away. She curled up into a ball again, hugging her legs to her chest. There was nothing she could do but wait.

There was nearly half an hour of silence in the room before Madame Pomfrey came out. Sirius stood up anxiously. "What's going on? What happened?" he asked, shooting questions at her. He hadn't had the heart to bother Lily and ask what had happened earlier.

Madame Pomfrey took a deep breath in and sighed. "Mr. Potter was hit in the back of the head with some sort of glass object. There were a few remains of pieces left in his hair and the cut in the back of his head." Lily nodded silently. "Along with getting cut, he suffered a severe loss of blood, due to the fact he's had a large, opened wound for several hours."

The room filled with noises of astonishment and disbelief. "He's also received a concussion, bruising to the brain," she explained, "and needs to be shook awake every so often, but also needs his rest. I'm asking you all not to bother him within the next day or so. If he wakes up of his own accord, I shall inform you all so you may talk to him."

Sirius nodded and dropped his head in his hands, sighing heavily. "Alright," he mumbled.

Lily nodded and buried her head as well.

"I told you," Bella said, standing up and taking Lily's hand, pulling her up from the chair and hugging her. "Everything will be alright."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Good morning, sunshine!"

Lily smiled weakly at Charles and sat down at the Gryffindor table for an early breakfast. She had woken up that morning in a pleasant mood, but the full impact of the day before came rushing back to her before she had even sat up in bed.

"Are you holding up ok?" Charles asked, sitting next to her.

Lily shrugged. "I'm alright," she muttered.

"What are you planning on doing today?"

Lily laughed dryly. "Sit in the Hospital Wing."

Charles smiled slightly. "All day?"

"I haven't out ruled the thought."

Charles laughed. "So you've forgotten our date at Hogsmeade tonight, then, have you?"

Lily took in a sharp breath. "Oh, no…"

"You did, didn't you?" he asked, smiling.

"Oh, Charles, I'm so sorry. I'm – it's just, with what happened last night, I put that as my top priority and forgot everything else! Oh, how could I have been so stupid?" Lily smacked herself in the forehead.

"No problem. If you want to stay with James all day, that's fine. We can always do something next weekend…"

"No, wait, I'm not going to cancel!" Lily said, grabbing onto his arm. "After everything you've helped me with, getting through yesterday and all. It's the _least_ I can do," she replied.

"No, you just stay here, really, you can 'pay me back' some other time," Charles insisted.

"No, we'll do something tonight. Besides, I shouldn't stay by his side all day. I hear it isn't healthy," she joked.

"But three-fourths of the day can't be that bad."

Lily laughed, smiling up at him with that familiar gleam back in her eyes. "I'll stay with James for the morning, and we'll go out and have a little bit of fun tonight, alright?"

Charles nodded, hugging her. "Now, this is the Lily I wanted to get to know."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Charles ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Charles walked Lily to the Hospital Wing and left once she was settled in, sitting by James' side.

He gave her a small hug and backed away, staring at her. _She's acting like this is the end of the world! Madame Pomfrey already said he should wake up later and he'll be fine! Then_ why _is Lily still sitting by him all day?_

Charles sighed heavily and looked over at Lily, smiling gently as she attempted to hide a tear. _I guess they're just such a tight pair. They've been best friends since winter break. He's probably one of the most important people to her right now – I'm sure it's all just a phase…_

Charles nodded slightly, affirming his own thoughts and leaving.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Are you ready to go yet? He's been waiting downstairs for over ten minutes!"

Lily rushed into the bathroom, and pulled on some earrings and throwing her hair up as nicely as she could within thirty seconds.

She had sat by James' side all day. The others had brought her food during mealtimes and took turns sitting with Lily, but she didn't budge from her own spot. Only a select few times, in fact, was she alone with James. Someone was always there with her. But she had been so wrapped up in staying with James, she'd nearly forgotten about her date with Charles that night. In fact, she was beginning to think she should have taken his advice and stayed with James for this week.

"I'm coming!" Lily hollered to Bella.

"Well, it's about time!" Bella hissed at her as she threw on an overcoat and sped down the stairs. "Now," she said, stopping Lily and fixing her hair slightly. "I want you to be on your best behavior tonight and don't do anything you can't tell me about!"

Lily rolled her eyes and smiled slightly. "Thanks, Mom," she muttered, stepping into a pair of open-toed, black high-heels and walked out of the portrait.

"Lily, there you are," Charles said, greeting Lily, standing up. He stepped forward and took Lily's hand, kissing it. "You look beautiful," he said to her.

"Thanks," Lily muttered, blushing. She hadn't done anything special – add a bit of jewelry here and there, throw on a skirt, touch up her make-up, mainly her mascara, and she was ready to go. "You do too," she replied, smiling up at him. Charles had chosen a pair of black, dressy pants and a dark red, button-up shirt, with his sleeves rolled up at the wrist.

"Shall we?" he asked, gesturing down the hallway.

!!!!!!!!!!!!! Later !!!!!!!!!!!!!

"I've been having problems with Transfiguration," Lily said. "I manage to pass with a high grade, but it's nowhere near what I _normally_ have."

"Yeah, I know exactly what you're talking about," Charles replied as they walked down the path on the way back to Hogwarts, through the chilling darkness. Occasionally, one would step into a pile of snow and they'd laugh for a few minutes, and then find their path once again. "This year, Arithmancy has become harder. We all just have to work harder. Or maybe it's the fact we got a new Professor this year and he teaches differently than our other Professor did."

Lily shook her head. "I don't think it's the Professor – I haven't had any problems with him. And," Lily added, "did you know he turned down playing for the Chudley Cannons to teach here?"

"Are you serious?" Charles asked, astonished. He opened the doors for Lily and they walked into the comfort of the castle. "Never would have guessed. He always seemed like the bookworm type."

"Nope," Lily replied, smiling. "Well, maybe he was, but he also played Quidditch."

Charles laughed and the pair walked up the stone steps together. "I love playing Quidditch. I've been playing since I was in my third year."

"Really?" Lily asked, interested. "What do you play?"

Charles laughed. "You don't watch the game much, do you?"

"Not lately," she muttered. "I used to watch when I was younger, but after second year, I sort-of stopped. The whole fascination of riding on brooms wore off, and all it became was just another sport, to me."

"Ha!" Charles grinned and they stopped in front of the portrait of the fat lady. "Just another sport?"

"Sorry to say it…"

"Oh well," he said, smiling. "I'll get you interested soon enough!"

Lily laughed along. "Well, are you going to tell me what you play on the team?"

"Oh, I'm a chaser."

Lily swallowed and paled slightly. _James was a – no,_ is _a chaser…_

"Oh."

"Uh…" Charles frowned at her downcast face. "Is there something wrong with that?"

"It's just… James is a chaser and I was kind-of hoping not to really think about him tonight, you know? Just be free of thought."

"Oh – _oh_ , wow, I'm so sorry, Lily," Charles said quietly, pulling her into a hug.

Lily pushed him away and blinked, clearing her eyes of what used to be tears. "No, really, I'm fine. Just forget I even mentioned it," she muttered.

Charles smiled down at her. "Really?"

Lily laughed and raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah, really."

"Ok, then." He leaned down and pulled her face close to his, sealing the night with a kiss.

Charles pulled away and looked at her awe-struck face. "I'll see you around, then?"

"Y-yeah, see you…"

Charles walked down the hallway as Lily stumbled into the common room, dazed.

She hadn't felt a thing. _Nothing_. There were no "fireworks," as most people said, nor any music. It was just a kiss. No emotions whatsoever – none like when James kissed her.

Lily shook her head, ignoring her past thought, and ran up to her room. _Stupid,_ she thought, _I just didn't feel anything because I wasn't even thinking about it; I was worrying about James again! I_ knew _if I started thinking about him, it would ruin my night!_

Lily changed into her nightgown and slipped into her bed, noticing everyone was asleep long before she had even gotten back. She looked at the clock. _1:17. Well, that'd explain them being asleep already._ Lily laid her head down on her pillow and started thinking about her night. _I guess we did have a lot of fun…_ She smiled to herself. _And when we went to an ice cream shop and he dropped the ice cream on his pants._ Lily laughed out loud, almost scaring herself from the sudden noise in the room.

_I guess he's not too bad…_

Lily went to sleep with a smile on her face.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sirius rolled over again, burying his face in his pillow. He couldn't get to sleep, no matter what he tried. He attempted calming himself with some music from the Wizarding Wireless Network, but all he found at this time was talk shows and old songs from the "old age."

Needless to say, the radio went off quick.

With the curtains around his bed closed and a candle lit sitting on the bottom of his bed, Sirius layed down and pulled out his sketchbook and drew pictures by candlelight. He drew a few lines and shaded in pieces of the paper then paused. He closed his eyes and envisioned a scene before him. Slowly, he placed objects around the paper and looked at his finished project.

It was James, lying in the Hospital Wing with a bandage around his head, sleeping. Sirius pulled out the drawing and ripped it into several small pieces, dropping it on the floor by his bed and blew out the candle.

He blinked, succombing to the darkness. This wasn't like James! He was always the careful one, never got into any trouble at all! Usually, Sirius was the one who was in the Hospital Wing and James would visit him frequently, bringing food occasionally. It wasn't supposed to be the other way around – and _he_ wasn't supposed to be out of it every time Sirius came!

_Stupid James,_ he thought, crawling back under his covers. _He's supposed to be there for us. He's never deserted me before…_

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lily woke up with a slight change to her attitude as it had been the night before. She returned to her somber, quiet mood as she sat by James' bed all day.

There were several beds along each wall, all of which were empty but the one James occupied. The color white surrounded Lily everywhere she looked. The walls, doors, cabinets, beds, and bed sheets were all a brilliant white.

Lily closed her eyes and breathed in deeply from her spot, attempting to block out any outside noises and stressful thoughts.

"Knock, knock," a voice called from the doorway.

Lily looked over and smiled at Charles. "Hey, there," she said, happy to have found a distraction.

"You're purposefully trying to ditch me, aren't you?" he asked, stepping in the room and standing next to her. "You must get up early a lot, don't you?"

Lily laughed. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to get here and stay with James for today."

Charles nodded and pulled up a chair, dragging it next to her. "I'll stay with you."

Lily's jaw dropped slightly. "Oh – no, no, you don't have to. I'll be here all day, you realize that, right?"

"I know," he said. "I might leave for a few things every now and then – but I _can_ stay here for at least a little while, right? Or are you trying to get rid of me again?"

Lily laughed and put a hand on his knee, smiling up at him. "No, it's fine if you stay here."

Charles smirked at her and leaned down, kissing her. Lily pulled away, smiling slightly, and reached for his hand, squeezing it, and then looked down into her lap. _Nothing, again!_ she thought to herself. _There were no emotions whatsoever…_

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Charles ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Charles stretched and stood up from the small wooden chair he had been sitting on for nearly the whole day. He walked around the room, up and down the aisle in the infirmary.

He rolled back his sleeve slightly and checked his watch. Groaning to himself, he sat back in his chair, looking over at Lily. _Poor thing,_ he thought, smiling at the innocent figure. Sometime around two in the afternoon, Lily had laid down on the bed near James' own bed, falling asleep as soon as her eyes drooped closed.

Charles stood again and dragged his chair over to Lily's side, picking up her hand, studying every detail about it.

He glanced up into her face and was shocked to find her large, emerald eyes staring back at him.

"Hello," she whispered.

"Hello," he repeated, just as quietly.

Lily smiled and closed her eyes slightly, then fluttering open again. "I'm surprised you stayed as long as you did," she said, barely audible.

"I must say, I surprised myself a bit as well," he muttered, laughing slightly.

Lily laughed weakly as well. "Did you stay here this whole time?"

"I did indeed, ma'am."

Lily smiled, and this time sat up, taking both of his hands in her own. "Charles," she started, swallowing, "you have no idea how much you've helped me through these past few days."

Charles shook his head. "It's no big deal, I'm just doing what anyone else would do."

"No, really," Lily said with a serious face. "You've been by my side through everything. You're such a great guy!" she confessed. "We've been seeing each other for less than a week, and already you've seen me in my ups and downs and reacted better than I could have _ever_ imagined! You've kept me happy when, now that I think about it, these would have been the worst days of my life had you not been here. And," she finished, "I just wanted to tell you how great you are and wonderful it is that you're here."

Charles looked down, grinning, then looked back up at Lily. "Thanks," he said, smiling.

Lily leaned over, for once, taking the initiative and kissed him first. Emotion filled her and the events of the past few days left her, letting her finally feel relaxed for once. Slowly, she backed away, eyes glittering.

_Whoa,_ Lily thought, smiling shyly, _I definitely felt something that time…_

<><><><><><><> Remus <><><><><><><>

"Hey, Breanna!" Remus called down the hallway, chasing after her.

"Hi," she replied, smiling.

"Whoa, haven't seen one of those in awhile," he joked, pointing to her gentle smile.

"Yeah, well," she muttered. "Seems as if all we've been doing lately is frowning or crying."

"Especially in Lily's case…"

"Of _course_ , in Lily's case! Do you have any idea what she must be thinking?" Breanna said, nearly shouting to get her point across. "She's probably thinking that the world hates her because; first, her parents died; then her sister _hates_ her and accuses her just because she's a witch; now, James is lying in the Hospital Wing, with a possible chance of going into a _coma_ if we're not careful, or, even worse, having a more severe concussion than Madame Pomfrey thought, causing his brain to swell, therefore leading to _death!_ "

"Ah," Remus muttered. "I see you've done your research."

Breanna looked over at him and glared. "Needless to say, Lily is having a hard time trying to cope with everything happening to her at once and this is one of the most major things so far, because he's filled the spot as best friend and support beam for her. If James doesn't get better soon, Lily will be worse off than without her parents!"

Remus shrugged, unable to come up with an adequate response.

"And the worst thing," she said quieter, looking at him, "is you know that I'm right."

Remus nodded, running a shaky hand through his hair. "She'll be thinking her life might as well be over if James is gone."

Breanna nodded. "And, of course, we all know how much she cares for him."

Remus raised an eyebrow, glancing at her strangely. "How much is that?"

Breanna rolled her eyes. "Isn't it obvious? She cares for him a _lot_ more than as a friend if she's staying by his side all day long! I mean, come on," she pointed out, "Sirius is his best friend, and even still he stays for an hour or so, but comes and goes! Given," she muttered, "he _does_ have a short attention span. Even so, look at yourself! _You're_ not sitting by his side all day, but you're his best friend _and_ you don't have a short attention span!" Breanna huffed and crossed her arms defiantly. "She _so_ has a thing for him."

Remus nodded, laughing slightly. "Never thought of it that way…"

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Charles ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"Hey, you hungry?" Charles asked, sitting next to Lily on the Hospital bed.

"A bit," she repliedShe had completely skipped breakfast and lunch claiming she wasn't hungry while Charles had brought something back to eat for himself. She felt her stomach growl.

Charles smirked. "I'll go and grab something and bring it back up for us, alright?"

"Thanks," Lily called, through the swinging doors.

"No problem," he replied, walking down the hallway.

_She's really something…_ he thought, scratching his head. _Great friend, but she's nothing like –_

"Hi, Charles."

_Well, speak of the devil._ Charles stopped in his path and stared on, not quite sure what to do.

"We need to talk."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Lily stood and walked over to James' bed after Charles had left. She picked up one of her shaky hands and held it to her mouth, hiccuping slightly as a small sob choked out. Her gaze lingered around the bandage around his forehead and deep-sized cuts into his chin and cheek from, assumingly, pieces of glass.

She imagined herself speaking to him as if her were awake. _Hey, James. I've had an unbelievable time the past few days. First, you got knocked out somehow._ Lily sighed and sat next to him. She picked up his hand and held it in her lap. _Then, Charles and I went out Saturday. We had a great time – there's so much we have in common!_ Hurriedly, she brushed away her tears and sat up, tall and strong. _Charles and I, we may actually have a future! Aren't you happy?_ Lily laughed slightly. _I really think there might be something between us._

Her finals tear fell. "If I think I should be with him, then why am I still here?" Lily smiled down at James once more and left the Hospital Wing for the first time that day.

Lily laughed all the way down the hallway, skipping merrily. _Maybe this is what people act like when they have that special someone…_

Lily astonished herself as she giggled out loud. _How on earth did I ever manage to end up with a guy like Charles?_

She stopped, about to round a corner, seeing Charles.

But he wasn't alone.

"I'm so sorry," Liz whispered, reaching up to touch Charles' face.

Without warning, Charles bent low and kissed her, cupping one hand on her face and the other reaching around to support her back.

Lily felt a dark, coolness shiver down her spine as the bottom of her stomach dropped out. She gripped onto the wall, attempting to hold on what sanity was left inside of her. But pieces slowly crumbled away, leaving her grasping onto midair.

"No," Lily whispered, collapsing onto the ground. She wrapped a hand around one of her locks of hair and tugged, hoping to move the hurt from emotional to physical pain. Lily's nails dug into her palms as her knuckled turned white.

She shook her head violently, tears streaming down her face as she let go of herself, pounding one fist angrily against the floor.

"Lily!" a voice gasped, sounding surprised.

Lily looked up, praying it not to be who she thought. But she didn't seem to be having that kind of luck these days.

"Lily, what happened?" Charles whispered, bending low.

Lily pushed herself against the wall behind her and looked up, terrified. "Charles – go – away."

Charles glanced past her, looking down the hallway. _Looking at his precious Liz,_ Lily assumed, sniffing. He reached out, but she slapped his hand away, looking into his eyes. Her eyes were no longer gentle – in fact, he had never seen them so ferocious looking before.

"I told you to _go away_ ," Lily whispered deadly.

Charles swallowed, hoping she didn't see what he thought she had… _Lord knows she doesn't need anymore of this._

"I'm sorry, Lily," he muttered, not moving. "It's – we just - "

Lily scrambled to her feet, pushing Charles aside, and bolted down the hallway, ignoring the protests to "stop!"

She didn't stop running until she reached the infirmary, flinging the doors open and running to James' bed.

Lily threw herself onto the foot of his bed, curling up into a fragile ball.

"Why?" Lily moaned, closing her eyes as she let several tears fall. "I didn't do anything to deserve this, I swear!" She clutched onto the furry blanket that covered James' body then felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.

Lily looked up, dreading the worst. But was surprisingly shocked.

"James," she whispered, eyes sparkling. "God, I'm so glad you're awake." Lily threw herself on top of James, hugging him as hard as she could, silently thanking whoever it was that kept continually changing her life for the better or the worse. They were finally doing something right – it was definitely getting better. "I didn't know how much longer I could take it with you being out of it."

James' eyes widened, staring at Lily, quite shocked. Here she was, literally seconds after James had woken up, and already she was lying on top of him, holding on with a death grip. "I was just checking to see if you were alright…"

"Of course I am!" Lily said, pulling away, smiling. "Everything's better now."

"Ok, well… You never know…" he muttered, sitting up.

Lily eyebrows furrowed. "James, are you alright?"

He scratched his head. "What happened?"

"Oh," Lily said, sighing. "You probably didn't realize – I think you hit your head on a table and got knocked unconscious. But you're all better now, see?" Lily laughed, wiping away her tears. Slowly, calmly, Lily breathed heavily and swallowed. "I was so worried about you, James."

He nodded, eyes downcast. "Yeah."

"James," she muttered, hopping off of the bed and standing next to him. "What's wrong?"

He scratched his head, slightly puzzled.

"Who are you?"

**Next chapter: Much more James/Lily things, a bit of romance. Also, a few problems Sirius tries to overcome and problems that he encounters...**

**Hope you all liked this chapter!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	17. DéjÃ  Vu

**Author's Note: Alright, so... I got some nice comments that made me smile... :D So I decided to put this up... less than a day later, I think. Haha! So, because I'm easily swayed by flattery, here's the next chapter!**

**Enjoy!**  

**Chapter Seventeen: Déjà Vu**

_"Who are you?"_

Lily froze.

"I beg your pardon?" she whispered, mouth hanging open, unbelieving.

James shrugged, helplessly. "I'm sorry," he said, squinting at Lily, hoping to recognize her. "I just don't know who you are."

"You don't? Oh…" She swallowed, blocking out the pain beginning to collapse in on her. "I'm Lily. We're, uh…" she shrugged, looking him in the eyes, hoping to find the old James there. No luck. "We're friends," she muttered, biting her lip.

"Oh," he said, nodding at her, trying to act friendly. "Well, it's nice to meet you, Lily."

She nodded. Exhausted, Lily sat in her chair, looking away from James. Small tears made their way down her cheeks once again. _It just never gets old, does it?_

"Lily?"

She jumped, hearing James speak. She turned around. "Yes, James?"

"Are you all right?"

Lily laughed slightly. "I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," she said quietly, putting on a brave face and patting James' hand soothingly.

"Ah, you've finally woken by yourself, have you?" a high voice chirped merrily. Lily turned in her seat to find Madame Pomfrey bustling about the room, picking up a bottle of potion. "And it's about time, too!"

James sat up slightly worried, and shrank back, moving as far away from Madame Pomfrey as he could, and closer to Lily. "Who's that crazy woman?" he muttered, pointing at the nurse, standing over him.

"Who am _I?_ Dear boy, how are you feeling?" Madame Pomfrey pressed a hand to his forehead, frowning. "Not heating up…"

"He lost his memory," Lily muttered, quietly.

"He – you – _what?_ "

"I don't know who you are," James said, not feeling the slightest bit comfortable in an empty room with two people he didn't know. But ignoring any embarrassment showing on his cheeks, he pressed on, exuberantly. "I don't know _where_ I am, I don't know _why_ I'm here, and I don't know _who_ I am!" He gestured over to Lily's figure. "I just met her a minute ago!"

Silently, Lily closed her eyes, trying not to show her pain.

"Oh, my… James," Madame Pomfrey said, bending over so as to look at him directly at eye level. "You were in an accident a few days ago. Lily found you banged up pretty badly."

Lily nodded. "You must have tripped over something, because I found you lying in glass from the coffee table. You hit your head on your way down harder than we had thought, apparently…"

James bit his lip, racking his brain in hopes of remembering something – anything. But nothing came to him.

"James," Lily said, "what _do_ you know?"

"My name is James Potter."

Lily nodded, urging him on. "And what else?"

He shrugged. "Not much more than that. I don't really know where I am…" he muttered, hoping to clue them in so they could give him information.

"You're in the Hospital Wing at Hogwarts," Madame Pomfrey said, as she searched her cabinets for more potions, pushing them all to the side when she found ones that she didn't need. A scraping noise echoed off the walls, making Lily mentally cringe at the sound, disturbing the silence.

"Hogwarts!" James shouted, eyes lighting up. "I've heard of Hogwarts before! It's a, uh…" James focused intently, scrunching up his face. "Shoot…" he muttered frowning, disappointed. "I don't really know what it is, I guess."

"It's a school," Lily said, exasperatedly. _What have I gotten myself into now?_ "You're a Gryffindor, sixth year. You're top in nearly all of your classes. You're a _Marauder!_ " she said as her final attempt at getting James to remember his best friends since day one at Hogwarts.

He stared at her. "A what?"

Lily stood up abruptly and paced the room in front of James' bed. "Don't you remember anything? _Anyone?_ "

James nodded, excited again. "My mum and dad!"

Lily paused. _Oh, Lord no…_ "James, your parents…" She watched his puzzled face, feeling her insides squirm with guilt at the fact that she was the one that had to give him such awful news. "They're dead."

"Oh."

His face fell, paling, and he scratched his head, looking downward.

"They were murdered at the hands of Lord Voldemort several years ago."

James' eyes grew wide, lighting with a fire, similar to the one that normally blazed within Lily. "Voldemort – he killed them?"

Lily nodded, glad to have him remember someone else.

Madame Pomfrey hurried over, cutting off their conversation, with her feet scuffling across the floor. "Lily," she said, pulling her away for a moment. Reluctantly, she stood on her feet and left James' side. "My dear, as you noticed, James does not have his memory, or rather, has selective memory. Oh, James!" The nurse darted her eyes over to James to find him pulling the bed sheets off and attempting to stand on his own. Hurriedly, she rushed over and helped him before he fell from lack of strength. Lily followed, supporting James weight under her own.

"As I was saying," Madame Pomfrey continued, accommodating James as he lied back down. "James has selective memory. In his case, he tends to remember things he's heard of the most or has been acquainted with for many years, for example, Hogwarts, being something he's always heard of. You-know-who, as you saw, is something that's impacted him rather hard, because of the fact that we all fear him and he is in the news virtually every day."

Lily nodded, looking down at James figure. "Yes," she responded.

"I also need you to give him one pill every morning around breakfast. I know I can trust you," she said, "otherwise, if Black had been here, I would have told him to come see me personally to get his medicine!" Lily laughed, but the light in her eyes was dull. "Other than that, I think he's good to go."

"Is that all?" Lily whispered.

"I believe so – _should_ there be more?" the nurse asked, frowning slightly, trying to remember if there was anything she'd forgotten.

Lily raised an eyebrow curiously. "Normally, you're pushing to keep people here longer, and now you're pushing to get him to _leave?_ "

"In his case, dear, he _needs_ to leave as soon as he can and get around to seeing people or things he might recognize. Get him back into his normal schedule. The more he gets to know, the faster his recovery."

Lily nodded again and sat next to James' bed as Madame Pomfrey scurried away, muttering to herself. "Careless accidents – wouldn't be here if they knew how to _walk_ properly…"

Lily smiled slightly. "Are you alright, James?" she said, glancing warily at his face, currently covered with anger.

"He – _damn_ him!" he shouted, referring to Voldemort, and pounded his fist on his bed.

Lily linked her arm through his as his chest rose heavily with each breath. Slowly, calmly, he touched her hand and threaded his fingers through hers, grasping her hand tightly. "It's alright," she whispered, looking into his eyes. "We'll get through this."

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Gryffindor common room ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

"James!" Sirius shouted, surprised when Lily escorted him through the Gryffindor entrance Sunday night. "When did you wake up, Prongs?"

"Sirius!" James shouted, shocking himself.

Lily crossed her arms, following behind slowly. _Sure, he recognizes him…_

James ran, ignoring the pounding headache he had left the Hospital Wing with. He threw his arms around him and seized Sirius in a large bear hug. "Hey, seems like years since I last saw you!"

Sirius laughed, clapping him on the back, and took a few steps away. "It's only been a few days, mate."

James shrugged, smiling. "So, how's Atria? Is she here?"

Sirius froze. "What?" he whispered, voice constricting to a higher octave. Lily gasped, eyes widening. _Not again…_

"Your sister?" James said as if he were stating the obvious. "Your _twin?_ You haven't forgotten her, have you?" he joked, laughing.

"James," Lily whispered in his ear, hoping for a miracle, "I don't think you should keep talking…"

Sirius backed up even farther, looking frantically between Lily and James, and then darting his eyes over to the rest of the Gryffindor sixth years, sitting on the couch. "What the hell is this?" he shouted, regaining his deep, booming voice. "Some kind of sick joke?"

Lily shook her head and reached out to Sirius. "No, it's not. Sirius, he's just - "

"He's out of his bloody mind, that's what he is!" Sirius fumbled for his words, pressing himself to the wall behind him. At this point, the whole common room had become attentive to the argument between long-time best friends.

Lily began calmly. "Sirius, it's ok. Just relax, you don't - "

"I don't _what_ , Lily?" He had a pained look on his face, a mixture between astonishment, disbelief, and anger. Tears threatened to fall, but in the midst of his anger, he didn't notice them.

"You don't know what happened!" she yelled, stepping forward angrily.

" _Then what happened?_ "

Lily blinked, listening to the silence of her surroundings. Carefully, she walked to Sirius' side and grabbed his arm, moving him over towards their circle of friends, seated open-mouthed by the fireplace. "Sirius," she said, much quieter, "James – he lost his memory."

A soft buzz filled the common room, students turning to their neighbor.

Lily bit her lip and looked around nervously, ashamed at how recklessly she had told everyone what happened. _It'll be through the whole school by dawn…_

"Upstairs," Remus muttered, pulling Breanna to her feet and nodding at the rest of the group. "It's the only place we'll ever get any privacy."

Silently, they each climbed upstairs to the boys' dormitory.

James stood there, puzzled. Lily smiled. _You gotta admit – he's got the cutest face when he's confused…_

"Come on," she said. "Your bedroom's up here," she said, holding out her hand.

James stepped forward hesitantly and took her hand. "What just happened?" he whispered, leaning in near her ear.

Lily ignored the pleasant shiver running down her spine as well as the warm breath across her neck, and became serious. "Atria died."

James gasped, wide-eyed.

"Voldemort," Lily said quietly, looking away from his ice cold glower.

"Lily," he said, directing her attention back to his face. "Would you mind telling me who else died so I don't end up in this situation again?"

She nodded. "But we'll have to do that later, we have to talk to everyone else right now."

James blinked, allowing Lily to pull him up the steps, as if he were a dog, obediently following its master.

She walked him into the room of deadly silence. "Oy," Remus said, shattering the stillness, "your bed's over here, mate." He pointed at a neatly made-up bed, untouched for the past two days. James nodded gratefully and sat down awkwardly, away from the group of people sporadically placed around the room.

Lily shut the door behind her with a muffled click and closed her eyes, breathing deeply. Gaining courage, she turned around and stood tall, bravely keeping her emotions inside of her.

"James woke up roughly an hour ago," she started, looking in his direction, as did everyone else. "Madame Pomfrey told me to take him up here and get him back into his normal routine – the more he gets used to things, the quicker he recovers."

James idly twiddled his thumbs, trying to ignore the adamant stares, watching him closely.

"He doesn't know any of us?" Bella whispered, covering her mouth.

Lily shrugged. "He only knows or recognizes things that he's known of for long amounts of time or had a strong impact on him."

Sirius nodded, keeping his gaze downward. "He recognized me. And remembers Atria."

Breanna looked up at Lily, helplessly. "Does James recognize you?"

Lily was about to answer, when a hoarse voice cut in. "You all can stop acting like I don't exist and talk to me yourself," James said, looking at each of the faces individually.

Breanna nodded, slightly surprised. "Did you recognize Lily?"

"No," he stated firmly.

"Do you recognize me?" she asked.

James shook his head in response.

Breanna swallowed and looked at the others in the room. "Do you recognize anyone else other than Sirius?"

James looked at Remus; then to Bella; then to Peter; and finally back up into Lily's face. "Sorry," he muttered.

Lily continued biting at her lip, feeling the sour taste of blood in her mouth. "He recognized the name Hogwarts, but didn't know that it was a school. He also remembered his parents." James' face fell slightly. "And remembered Voldemort."

An air of unease fell over them. "But he doesn't remember his own best friends," Remus whispered, reaching for Breanna's hand.

"I'm sorry," James repeated, looking at each of the downcast faces.

"It's alright, James," Lily muttered, walking to his side and put her hand gently on his shoulder.

"I can't take this anymore," Sirius muttered, standing and leaving, flinging the door open. "I have to empty my mind…"

"Oh, Sirius," Bella said, chasing after him through the open door.

Remus shook his head and ran a shaky hand through his hair. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to go with Sirius on this one," he said.

Lily nodded as Peter, Remus, and Breanna all left the room, leaving Lily and James left, alone.

James swallowed and looked up at Lily, guiltily.

"It's not your fault," Lily cut in before James could even say the words aloud. "They just… It came to them as a bit of a shock."

"It was a shock to you also, wasn't it?"

Lily nodded slightly, walking across the room to Sirius' bed and pulled open a drawer in his side-table desk. "It was," she said, "but then again, for starters, the three guys were your best friends for the past six years. The two girls, along with myself, became good friends, with you sometime around a month ago. In fact," Lily said, "the ones you saw holding hands are going out – obviously."

James nodded, then looked up hurriedly, panic-stricken. "Do I have a girlfriend?"

Lily laughed at his reaction. "No, you don't, I'm sorry." She shuffled a few objects around in the drawer and finally dropped to the floor, looking underneath his bed. She found what she was searching for, pulling out a black notebook. "Here," she said, tossing it gently in his lap.

"What is this?" James asked, opening up the top cover.

"It's a photo album. Sirius showed it to me a week or so ago – he said that he took as many pictures here as he could and then kept a record of all his years at Hogwarts. This is just first year."

James nodded, raising his eyebrow at the first picture. "Where are we?"

"Oh," Lily said, crawling onto the bed, and lying down. "That was the first day coming to Hogwarts at King's Cross Station. Platform 9 ¾," she added, hoping to jog his memory.

James nodded and turned the page, expressionless. "Whoa," he muttered, looking closely. He turned and lied down next to Lily, moving the photo album so that it was in front of both of them. "Who is that?" he asked, pointing.

Lily sat up on her elbows and stared at the moving picture with a small girl, flailing her arms about as she tried to swim to the nearest boat. Lily laughed. "That would be me," she said.

James burst a gut, laughing loudly. "What happened?"

" _You_ happened," Lily said, poking James in the shoulder.

His eyes widened. " _I_ did that? Are you serious?"

"Very serious," Lily said, smiling.

James flipped the page and laughed again. "And that's you after…"

"After you cursed my hair to stick straight up all day."

James shook his head. "And this picture of you is - "

" – after you put a jelly-legs curse on me." Lily smiled as James buried his head into his bedspread.

"Why on earth was I doing this?" he asked, his voice muffled in his pillow.

"Because you hated me," Lily said. "But wait, the pictures get better," she whispered excitedly, turning the page.

Blown up, covering a whole page, was a picture of James with cake covering his face and a pitcher of milk in Lily's hands, being poured down slowly, turning his dark hair light.

Lily laughed out loud.

James merely blinked. "Oh, and you think this is funny?"

Lily recovered quickly, grinning. "You couldn't have _possibly_ thought I would have let you get away with pulling those _awful_ pranks on me, could you?"

James smirked at her. "You are an evil little girl."

Lily laughed again, pushing James' shoulder. "Oh please," she gasped, attempting to stifle her giggles. _You'd think that after you realize your best friend remembers nothing about you and your boyfriend cheats on you, you might not be laughing as much as I am right now._ "Just keep looking," Lily said, smiling over at him.

James flipped the page, and the laughter continued.

Bella

"Sirius!" Bella chased him out of the castle and through the cold grounds, near to the Quidditch field. "Sirius, would you _stop_ acting like such a little child and quit running away from your problems?"

Sirius halted and spun on his heel, glaring at Bella. "A little _child?_ Bella, you have _no_ idea what I'm going through right now!"

Bella raised an eyebrow. "Sirius, we're all friends with James – the fact that he lost his memory impacts us all, _not_ just you!"

Sirius stepped forward, glaring down at his girlfriend. "Oh, really?" he asked, narrowing his eyes. "How long has he been _your_ best friend?"

Bella stopped speaking, and stared up at Sirius, unable to comprehend him at the moment. "It doesn't matter how long he's been my friend _or_ best friend," she said calmly and quietly. "He's still my friend, and I still care about him."

Sirius stepped backwards, away from her. "That's just plain _bull!_ " Sirius pointed up at the tall Gryffindor tower. "James has been my _best friend_ my _whole life!_ And you expect me to act upbeat and together when he hardly _remembers_ me?"

Bella shook her head frantically. "He remembered you, though, Sirius!"

"But he sure as hell didn't remember what happened to Atria!"

Bella paused, not saying anything. "Sirius, he - "

"No, stop, just – just _leave_ me – go away!" he shouted, tripping over his feet and toppling onto the ground, unmoving.

"Sirius!" Bella kneeled on the ground, rolling Sirius onto his back.

He stared up at her.

"Sirius, are you ok?"

Slowly, but surely, he shook his head as a small tear traveled across his cheek, falling onto the snow without noise.

Bella smiled weakly and leaned closer, moving her hand by his face and stroking his hair behind his ear. "Sirius, what's really wrong?"

He sat up on his elbows and swallowed, shrugging.

"I know this can't all be about James," she whispered, pressing her forehead to his and looking him deep into his eyes. "Because we all know that James has been lucky before, I'm sure he'll be back to normal within a few days."

Sirius looked away, blinking the tears out of his eyes.

"Sirius," she said, "will you tell me who Atria is?"

He nodded, sitting up straight.

"Alright," she said, holding a hand out to him. "Let's go inside. You can tell me on the way."

<><><><><><><> Remus <><><><><><><>

"Sirius had a _twin?_ "

Remus nodded silently. "Atria Black, as I'm guessing you've figured out, and she was murdered by Voldemort – when Sirius was standing right beside her."

Breanna dropped her head in her hands. "Poor Sirius…"

"Don't even _say_ any of this to him," Remus said immediately, cutting off anything Breanna was about to say. "I'm already guessing he's in bad enough mood, from being reminded of her."

Breanna nodded seriously. "I won't say a word."

"Good," Remus muttered, glancing around the library room.

Breanna bit her lip. "What do you think we should do with James now?"

Remus shrugged. "We probably shouldn't bother them. If I know Lily, she's probably working with him as soon as possible, trying to get him back to normal."

"And they might need a bit of alone time as well…" Breanna let the open sentence hang in the air, smirking at Remus.

"You match-maker you," he muttered, laughing.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"And this one," Lily said, picking up a blue notebook and flipping through to find a picture, "is the famous Marauders at Hogsmeade for the _first_ time. In second year, after you had figured out the secret passage there and back."

James glanced at the picture and smiled, flipping through the rest of the pictures. Lily and James had relocated themselves, sitting next to each other on the rug in front of the Gryffindor fireplace with six albums and several pictures spread out on the floor in a halo around them.

"So, I'm smart?"

Lily stared at him, and then laughed out loud at the bluntness of this statement. "You could say that," she muttered, smiling over at him.

"I'm not smart?" he asked, puzzled, interpreting Lily's answer differently than she had meant for it to be answered. "But in the Hospital Wing, you said I had top marks…"

"Well, top marks in all classes except Charms," she said. "That's my subject," she boasted, proudly.

James nodded, turning a page.

"But at times, sometimes you just lose your cool and say the wrong things. Or just at the wrong time…"

James nodded. "I can see that coming from me – I obviously must have said something wrong for you to have done all of these horrible tricks on me."

Lily laughed. "Well, after pushing me out of the boats to Hogwarts first year, I think we kind-of declared war on each other after that."

James smirked and closed the photo album, opening up a blood red album. "What year is this one from?" he asked.

"Oh, that's from this year," Lily said, excitedly. "These are my favorite – then again, that might be because this is the only album where I look any good. You know," she said, "without a spell on my hair or food on my robes."

James chuckled and flipped through the pages. "Wait, I saw him earlier, who's that?" he asked, pointing at the boy hanging from the wall in Charms, swinging back and forth, attempting to jump down, but without luck.

"Oh," Lily said, dropping her voice. "That's Snape. Severus Snape, or Snivellus to you four."

James raised an eyebrow. "Snivellus? Are you serious?"

Lily nodded and smiled. "You see, whenever you weren't planning on ruining _my_ life, you plotted against him."

James flipped the page. "Why am I so mean?"

"Oh, you're not mean. Just… You prank people for fun. As a joke," she said, attempting to find the right words. "I used to do the same things to you."

"But only because _I_ did it first," he replied quickly.

"You're not a bad person, James," Lily said, finishing the small argument. "You're one of the _nicest_ people I know."

"And yet we fought the first time we met each other."

Lily shrugged. "Wrong place, wrong time. And plus, if we hadn't have fought, I wouldn't have been able to be friends with you now, you realize."

James bit his lip, wondering if he should speak out loud. "How exactly _did_ we become friends?"

"Well," Lily started, "there was a bit of a mix up last break a few days before Christmas. Needless to say, we 'bonded' when we were sort-of forced to be together, and now we're friends."

"Boy," James muttered, "I got a pretty good deal."

Lily laughed, as James smiled down at her.

He turned a few pages, looking at each picture, and then smiling. Lily stopped him, pointing her finger. "This is where we start to come into the pictures. There, that's Bella, she's going out with Sirius, remember? And that one's Breanna with the brown hair. I just _adore_ her hair, it's so pretty," Lily muttered, speaking to herself. "Oh!" she whispered, excited, "there's me! And then this one is Bella and Sirius a day or so after they started going out. And you and me on the couch, here."

James smiled down at the picture. All he ever saw of himself, as he continued turning pages, were pictures of him and Lily. Occasionally there would be a picture of him alone, maybe even one or two of everyone huddled together. But nearly all of the pictures of James were of him and Lily together.

"I must _really_ be good friends with you, huh?"

Lily began to grow uncomfortable very quickly. "Yeah, we are," she muttered, feeling her voice falter.

"Did _we_ ever go out?" James asked curiously.

Lily chuckled slightly, hoping to divert his attention from the tears building up in her eyes. "No, we didn't."

James' face darkened slightly at the thought. "We didn't?"

"No, James," she repeated, swallowing a large lump in her throat. Lily never imagined it ever being this hard talking to James when he was like this.

James rolled over onto his elbow and looked at Lily. Slowly, he reached out a hand and stroked her cheek. Lily closed her eyes, allowing a lone tear to trickle down, across his thumb. "A girl as beautiful and kind as you…" he whispered, smiling, "and I didn't have the sense to ask you out?"

Lily's body began shaking with sobs and she clutched James' hand to her cheek, looking him in the eyes. "I'm so sorry, James," Lily said quietly, sitting up. "It's a bit – challenging," she muttered, wiping her tears away. "I'll just be right back…"

She stood, rushing from the room to a girls' bathroom, he assumed.

Weakly, James watched her crimson hair disappear out of sight, staring blankly at the opening to the dormitory steps.

_I obviously messed_ something _up again,_ he thought, sighing. _Maybe that's why she never went out with me._

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Remus yawned and stretched out in the large armchair at the back of the library. He reached over to Breanna and grabbed her waist, pulling her onto his lap, hugging her up against his chest. "So," he said, kissing her on the cheek, "how are you feeling?"

Breanna smiled and leaned back on her new-found pillow. "This must sound really horrible of me," she muttered, "but I'm in a great mood."

"Oh?" Remus began to play absentmindedly with her hair. "Why is that so horrible? It's ok to be in a good mood."

"Remus," she whispered, turning to look up at him, "James doesn't remember who we are!" He nodded. "But," she sighed, "at the same time, my parents are alive! They're not dead!"

Remus laughed and ran his hand up and down her arm. "Yeah, they're… Breanna?"

"Yes?"

"In the newspaper, the Ministry of Magic confirmed they were dead, didn't they?"

"Yes…"

"And they said they found their, erm… bodies, correct?"

Breanna paused, not speaking.

"Breanna?" he pressed.

"What if it was a decoy?" she muttered, biting her lip. "Maybe… _Maybe_ Voldemort wanted the people at the Ministry of Magic to _think_ that they were dead so they would stop looking for them! That has to be it," she said, eyes sparkling.

Remus smiled. "I guess."

There was silence.

"Remus, you _do_ think they're alive, though – don't you?"

He shrugged. "I'm hoping as much as you are believing – but until real evidence comes, I can't commit to anything." Breanna's face fell slightly. "I'm sorry," he whispered, "but we don't even know when that note was written."

Breanna shook her head. "Remus, you don't have to see everything to believe it. As long as you _know_ that they can't possibly be gone, you're believing in them." She pressed her small, delicate hand onto his chest where his heart beat. "This has to be something you just know or feel – you can't have proof for everything in life."

Remus stared back at her, agape with wonder.

"I believe."

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Sorry about that," Lily said, her voice soft. "Just got a bit carried away with a few things."

James nodded, looking away, suddenly embarrassed. "That's alright," he muttered.

"So," she said, putting on a false smile. "Which picture are you looking at now?" she questioned.

"Actually," he muttered, pocketing the picture of Lily and himself, "I was getting a bit hungry. Is there any food in this place?"

Lily laughed and nodded. "Of course," she said, dragging him out of the Gryffindor common room by hand.

Lily attempted to make conversation, but all James had on his mind were the objects in the hallway that they passed by.

"This Hogwarts," he said in awe, "is the most amazing place I've ever been to."

Lily smiled at him with sadness in her eyes. _It's like I'm having to teaching a foreign student,_ she thought, miserably.

"James," she questioned, "do you remember any spells?"

"Spells?" James' eyes widened. "I can do spells?"

Lily smiled. "You _do_ know you're a wizard, though, right?"

"'Course!" he shouted, excited. "But you mean – I know how to cast spells _also?_ "

"Yes!" Lily said, beginning to share his excitement. "After next year you won't even have to be supervised and be on your own."

James began running, hooting and hollering.

Lily laughed, chasing after him down the hallway. "James, wait up!"

The pair continued laughing the whole way to the portrait of a bowl of fruit. "Here, this is the door to - "

James cut her off. "The kitchens!"

Lily raised an eyebrow. "You have _got_ to be joking. You're telling me that you remember the kitchens, but don't even remember _me_? Oh, for heavens sake…"

Lily reached out her forefinger and tickled the pear. The door swung open, revealing a large group of house elves, bustling about the place, cleaning dinner dishes.

"Food," James muttered, hopping inside through the entrance. He plopped down at a table and sat, watching Lily anxiously as she took her sweet time, sauntering over to the table.

"You know, James," she said, sitting down and crossing her legs daintily, "if I had not already been with you all day for the past two days and sat by your bed in the Hospital Wing while you were partially unconscious, I would have thought that you were the same old James I used to know." _Used to know – you still know him! He's sitting right in front of you – he hasn't left_ permanently _! Just… His brain is on a bit of a vacation…_ Lily scolded herself.

James smirked at her. "I definitely remember food. How could I forget it?"

Lily nodded and glanced away. _How could you forget me?_

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

"That one up there," Sirius whispered, "is Polaris, the Pole Star. And that constellation that it's part of is Ursa Minor."

Bella nodded, gazing steadily up at the stars, openmouthed. "They're so pretty," she whispered, reaching for Sirius' hand absentmindedly and dropping her head onto his shoulder, sighing.

Sirius jerked his gaze away and looked down at their hands. His eyes traveled back up to her face and smiled, gently at her.

Bella looked up, feeling a pair of eyes on her, and she blushed, smiling back.

Sirius took advantage of the moment. After his… mishap… Bella and Sirius had walked inside and grabbed their cloaks, with Lily and James nowhere to be found. They eventually left through the castle doors and wandered the grounds, gazing at stars and talking occasionally.

No one was around. The night sky was silent. They were alone. Together.

_Alone._

Sirius quickly executed his actions, leaning over and catching her lips on his, landing a passionate kiss. It was bliss for him. After dealing with so many hectic problems within the past month, it was just good to get away from it all.

Bella kissed back with as much force, giving entryway to her mouth.

But they were soon interrupted – with a soft thud.

"Let's get the hell _out_ of here! Who knows what odd animals patrol the forest for _Dumbledore_ ," the man spat.

Sirius quickly pulled away and wrapped his arms protectively around Bella.

"What was that?" she whispered, panicking.

The muffled voices began speaking again and Sirius' head whipped wildly around the grounds, searching for their owners. Squinting, slightly, he found two burly figures and a mass of robes in a pile. It looked almost as if the figures were –

Upon impulse, Sirius pushed Bella to the nearest tree. "Don't – move," he hissed, deadly serious. Immediately, turning around, Sirius ran at the cloaked figures.

And transformed into a large, black dog.

He charged the cloaked figures, emitting loud barks as he gained speed.

"What the – a _dog?_ Since when did Hogwarts get _dogs?_ " One of the called, angrily.

He had them on the run now.

"What – I'm _allergic_ to dogs!" the other called, squealing slightly as Sirius nipped at his heel.

Sirius continued barking, enjoying this chase very much so. His tongue hung out of his mouth, panting loudly with a sloppy, lopsided grin on his face. He advanced on the two running figures and caught the end of their cloak, skidding to a halt and stopping the man in his tracks.

Growling, Sirius tugged as the man panicked. "Get – away! You mangy dog!" He delivered a swift kick into Sirius' side, throwing him several feet back, whimpering on the ground.

They disappeared into the Forbidden Forest.

He let them get away.

"Damnit," Sirius cursed, turning back into human form, moaning as he rolled around on the ground.

"Sirius!"

_Aw, hell no._

"Sirius, what on earth _was_ that? What did you just do?"

Sirius rolled over, looking up into Bella's worried face. He grinned weakly, ignoring the pain in his side. "I bet you've never seen Death Eaters run that fast from a dog before, huh?"

Her eyes widened. " _Those_ were Death Eaters? Are you sure?" she asked, biting her lip. "They might have been friends of Dumbledore's!"

Sirius shook his head and crawled onto his hands and knees. He paused and gagged slightly, then retched his dinner all over the snowy grounds.

"Are you ok," Bella said, leaning down and gently putting a gloved hand on his back in a comforting manner.

Breathing heavily, Sirius nodded and wiped his mouth off with the sleeve of his robe.

"Good," she whispered, then shoved his shoulder roughly. " _What_ , on this _bloody_ earth did you think you were doing?" she hollered, glaring at him.

"Bella, those were _Death Eaters_ ," he explained, shakily getting to his feet. He began to walk slowly to where there was a lump on the ground, holding his side.

"You don't _know_ that! And," she yelled, pointing her finger in his face, "even if they _had_ been Death Eaters, _why_ were you chasing after them? And in _dog_ form! What was _that?_ "

Sirius laughed nervously, attempting to walk faster.

She cut him off, standing taller, and more powerful than Sirius had ever seen her before. For one of the first times, he was actually _scared_ of this small, petite blonde. "You tell me what happened this instant or you will _never_ be speaking to me anytime soon – and I will guarantee that!"

Sirius heaved a long sigh and bent his knees slightly, looking directly into her face. "Bella, those were Death Eaters – why they were here, I'm not sure, but they obviously left something here," he said, pointing at the mound of black contrasting against the white snow.

"You didn't explain the dog," she said, not forgetting what she had seen.

Sirius ran a hand through his hair, bushing flecks of snow away, and paled slightly, hoping his friends would forgive him for what he was about to do. "Bella," he said calmly, "I'm an Animagus." He started to walk again.

Bella's stopped in her tracks momentarily. " _What?_ " She shook herself and ran, catching up with him. "Sirius, you can't be an Animagus – you have to be registered and there's only seven! Plus, you have to be supervised by the Ministry – it's the rules!"

Sirius chuckled, smirking. "And since when have I ever listened to the rules? And plus," he said, "being an Animagus helped me catch up to those Death Eaters. _And_ they didn't even recognize me because I wasn't in my normal form."

Confusion was written all over Bella's face. "Sirius, you – you just _can't_ be an Animagus! Was this just another one of your let's-have-fun-breaking-the-law schemes?"

Sirius glanced at her sideways, partially offended. "As a matter of fact, no it wasn't. All of us are Animagi."

"You're _all_ Animagi? As in James, Peter, Remus, and you?"

He shrugged. "Yes and no – Remus isn't an Animagus. He's a, uh…" Sirius looked over at Bella's inquiring eyes and he bit his lip. "Remus is a werewolf," he spit out into the silence. "We became Animagi so that he wouldn't be alone during his long transformations."

Comprehension began to dawn on Bella's face. "And he was _really_ transforming when he lied and told everyone that he was visiting his mum or – or sick in the Hospital Wing! I get it now…"

Sirius kept walking, looking straight. "Bella, you can't tell anyone what I just told you – we all promised to each other that we wouldn't say a _word_ about it."

Bella faked a look of confusion. "Say what?"

Sirius looked over at her and smiled. Weakly, he threw his arm around her shoulders and leaned on her. "I think that guy broke my ribs or something," he muttered, cringing as Bella touched his side.

"Oh, I'm sorry…"

Sirius nodded slightly. He pulled away once the two of them reached the mound of black robes.

"What on earth…"

Bella bent down. "Sirius, what is it?"

Sirius shrugged, puzzled. "It doesn't look much like a bunch of robes – more like one…"

"I think it's _someone_ …"

"Yeah, me too. Pull back the hood."

"Me? _I'm_ not pulling back the hood! _You_ pull it back!"

"Why me? _I_ just got kicked in the ribs!"

Bella crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. " _I_ just found out my boyfriend's been lying to me. And if he knows what's smart for him, he won't challenge me."

Sirius looked up, his eyes sparkling happily. He gave her an innocent grin and bent down, near the hood. He pulled it back slowly…

Bella gasped. "Oh my God!"

The two looked at each other, eyes wide.

"Professor Sonetra!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Are you _quite_ finished?" Lily asked, drumming her fingers on the table, impatiently.

James looked up from his chicken leg and spread a toothy grin.

"Whoa, James, never do that again," Lily muttered, shielding her face from the flecks of chicken he began to spit out while laughing.

James swallowed and wiped his face with a white napkin. "Sorry," he muttered.

"Oh, yeah right. I know you James Potter," Lily said, picking up her fork and dragged it around, mixing up the foods on her plate. "You're not sorry," she whispered, leaning in.

She picked up a handful of lasagna and plastered it all over his face, smearing it around, taking her time, so that his face was covered in food.

Carefully, James opened his eyes and blinked, staring back at Lily. "You meant to do that."

"You bet I did."

Silently, he picked up a bowl of mashed potatoes and dipped his hand in. Carefully, he reached over and rubbed mashed potatoes around, letting it drip down her face. Finally, he patted her hair, smirking.

"You did _not_ just touch the hair."

"You bet I did."

And before you could blink, both had dived onto the table, grabbing random food items, arming themselves for battle.

Lily ran back to the opposite end of the room with an armful of provisions. Rapidly, she began to unpeel a banana.

"Take that!" she shouted, giggling as the banana hit him in the chest, leaving a large mark on his robes.

But James was quick on the rebound. He grabbed the bowl of gravy and tossed it on Lily as well as on anything and everything else that was near her, including the floor.

Lily squealed, hiding her face from the impact. "James Potter! You're going to get it!"

James ran to the refrigerator. "Not fair!" Lily called. "You're cheating!"

"All's fair in war!" he shouted, grinning from ear to ear.

James pulled out a bottle of ketchup and ran, charging towards Lily. She began to giggle as she slipped, failing to rise to stay on her feet and sliding on the gravy. But not more than two seconds later, James was lying right next to her, having fallen on his backside as well.

The two began to laugh uncontrollably, holding onto the other.

James' breathing began to slow and he came down to a small giggle every now and then. "Déjà vu," he muttered, looking over at Lily.

Lily's eyes widened and she sat up, looking down at him. "Déjà vu…? James, what are you remembering?"

"I just… I remember being in a food fight before."

Lily smiled down at him.

"With you."

Lily grinned even further.

"Anything else you remember?"

He nodded. "You had ketchup and mustard stains all over your outfit. And I was _wet_."

Lily laughed, giddy. She threw her arms around James, unable to control herself, and hugged him tightly, even throwing in a few kisses on his cheek every now and then.

"You remember!" she squealed, laughing again.

"I don't remember _everything_ ," he muttered, blushing.

Lily grinned. "At least you remember _me!_ I don't care if you never remember anything else as long as you remember me!"

James blinked, slightly astonished. "So…" he said, trying to figure it all out, "You mean, if I say I remember you – would you give me more kisses?"

Lily laughed and rolled off of him, in a much better mood than she had been in all day. "Sorry, buddy," she said, smiling.

"Can _I_ give you kisses?"

Lily laughed and then looked into his face – to realize he was _serious_.

"Alright…"

"Wait!" James cried, pausing. Then he turned back to her. "I _remember_ you, Lily!" He lied down on top of her and began to kiss her cheeks continuously, Lily giggles the whole time.

"Oh, would you cut it out!" she hollered, grinning as a tinge of red crept onto her face.

"Aw," he said, pinching her cheeks, "you're blushing!"

"Oh, shove off," she muttered, sitting up and attempting to clean bits of food off of her. Realizing it was a helpless cause, she stood and pulled James to his feet. "Come on," she said, pulling him to the door. "You need to get cleaned up."

Bella

"Is she – _dead?_ "

Sirius looked up at Bella, panicked. "I don't know! I pulled off the hood – _you_ check and see if she's alive!"

"Sirius, we are _not_ going through this ordeal again!" Sirius sat back onto the snow stubbornly, crossing his arms. "Oh, sometimes you are such a child," she muttered, leaning over the teacher. She pressed two fingers to her wrist and felt for her pulse.

"So?" he inquired, raising his eyebrows questioningly.

"I don't feel anything," she muttered, pulling her hand away very quickly, paling.

The two sat in the snow, looking at each other for a moment. "So what do we do?"

Bella shrugged and stood up, backing away. "I reckon we should take her to Madame Pomfrey – maybe she really _is_ alive."

Sirius scowled and crossed his arms. "Maybe we should leave her in the cold, for all the fat lot of help she's done for _us_."

Bella slapped him on the arm. "She's a _teacher_ , Sirius! Not to mention, if she weren't really dead and you decided to leave her out here, you would be helping in a murder!"

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, please, don't be getting dramatic – she was a Death Eater, _you_ found the note! We'd be doing the Ministry of Magic a favor!"

"They wouldn't want her dead; they would want her in Azkaban for further questioning! Plus, she might not even _be_ a Death Eater! Maybe she just got mixed up in a few things and they, er… Well, maybe they killed her because she was a spy for Dumbledore!" Bella guessed, hopefully.

"And they _oh_ so kindly brought her back instead of leaving her in a ditch? _Really_ , Bella, I'm sure you're right – after all, I'll be having a spot of tea with Voldemort and a few Death Eaters tomorrow afternoon, I'll ask them then, shall I?" Sirius began laughing heartily, grinning.

"Cut it out," she muttered, frowning at Sirius. "That's not very funny."

Sirius grumbled at her sense of humor and stood, _accidentally_ stepping on his teacher's leg. ("I slipped!")

The two managed to drag her up to the castle, stopping every now and then to catch their breath. She wasn't exactly as light as a gnome, you know.

The group managed to make it inside, closing the doors to the winter winds blowing towards them, and leaving behind two sets of footprints and a large trail where Professor Sonetra had been dragged through the snow.

They brushed snow off, leaving small patches of snow and water, behind where they had stepped.

"This is so – _creepy_ ," Bella hissed at Sirius, cringing at the feel of Professor Sonetra's frozen hand.

" _Definitely_ not a hand I want to be holding…"

Bella looked over at Sirius, raising an eyebrow. "You better only want to hold _one_ person's hand," she said, warning him.

Sirius smirked at her, proud. "Of course," he said sweetly. "My mum's."

Bella glared, playfully.

"Here," Sirius managed, pushing the infirmary door open and dragging the teacher inside.

"What do you _think_ you two are doing?" Madame Pomfrey shrieked, running to their side and pulling out her wand, levitating Professor Sonetra to a bed. " _Honestly_ , you would think that students at _this_ level in magic might remember a simple spell instead of dragging her through the castle!"

"And the snow," Sirius corrected as he brushed his hands off on his pant leg, wrinkling his nose at the mere thought of even _touching_ the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher.

"The _snow?_ What was she doing out there?"

"The Death Eaters - "

" - he _thinks_ were here. I honestly think it's a load of rubbish, Death Eaters on the grounds, but they were all dressed the same."

"Dressed… The same?" she questioned.

Bella nodded, looking at Sirius for confirmation. He agreed as well. "We were relatively close to them."

"Mr. Black," she interrupted, looking sharply at him, "please inform Dumbledore as to what has happened here tonight."

"Whoa, wait," he said, "I got hurt too. I think they broke my ribs or something…"

The nurse rolled her eyes and began getting out tools to work on the teacher lying on the bed. "Miss Figg, could you help me out here?"

Bella nodded and left the room, fleeing to Dumbledore's office.

"It's a good thing you've got a girlfriend who sticks around all the time," Madame Pomfrey muttered, looking directly at Sirius. "Otherwise, I'd probably kick you out by now for being a pathetic, lazy bum."

Sirius shrugged and lied down, crossing his legs comfortably. Clearly, he wasn't fazed by the fact that Madame Pomfrey didn't like him very much. "Yeah, good thing she's with me, huh?"

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James and Lily laughed all the way back to the common room with grins on their faces. "So, this girl," he said, "she's your sister? And I spit _corn_ at her?"

Lily laughed at the shock on his face. "Yes!" she shouted, holding her stomach. "It was the _funniest_ think you should have been there!"

James raised an eyebrow. "But I was the one there spitting corn on her."

Lily swallowed, realizing another one of her mistakes. "Well… You should've remembered," she muttered, smiling weakly.

"Guess so," he muttered. "But I remember your house, now. And why exactly was I at your house?"

Lily smiled. "At that point, we pretty much hated each other. I sort-of stole your broom as a pathetic little trick at the time and you flew on Sirius' broom to my house to get it back." She smiled innocently.

James laughed. "I honestly flew to your house to get my broom? Wouldn't that be hours away? And why did we have a _food_ fight in your kitchen if I only came to pick up my broom – unless you were trying to stop me from getting my broom…"

Lily grinned. "You see, earlier that day I kinda sorta told my sister I had a boyfriend at school and your name was the first that came out."

James raised his eyebrows, smirking. "Oh, _really?_ You told them I was your - "

" _Then_ ," Lily cut him off, playfully, "when you showed up, first thing out of your mouth was your name and my parents just _had_ to meet you and you just _had_ to stay for dinner. So," she said, happily dwelling on past thoughts, "you did and we ended up having a food fight while cleaning the dishes."

James chuckled. "But," he muttered, "you 'kinda sorta' said I was your boyfriend? When we weren't the best of friends yet? Now _why_ would that be if you didn't like me?"

Lily slapped him on his shoulder playfully. "Oh, give it up," she mumbled, as James let out a loud guffaw and began laughing. She crossed her arms stubbornly, smiling slightly.

"Lily!"

Lily raised an eyebrow and unfolded her arms, searching for the voice. She heard footsteps running behind her.

"Bella, what is it?"

"You might – Sirius – Death Eaters – the Hospital Wing!"

Lily's eyebrows knitted together in a look of concern. "Sirius is in the Hospital Wing?"

Coughing, Bella nodded and continued running, waving slightly.

Lily looked at James, wide-eyed, and the two bolted in the direction that Bella had come, straight to the infirmary.

"Sirius!" Lily shouted once she entered. "What happened, are you ok? Did Death Eaters attack you – are you hurt? What were you _doing_ to get Death Eaters to attack you?"

Sirius held up a hand as James put his own hand on her shoulder. "Calm down, it's nothing," Sirius said, sitting up slightly. "Might've gotten a few cracked ribs, but all in all I'm good. Her, however…" Sirius pointed towards the teacher.

James froze. His whole body had stiffened up. Sights passed before his eyes. He could see Lily speaking to Sirius, asking what had happened, but the words weren't processing. His mind was a blank.

Lily turned to him and frowned. Then put a hand to his forehead, feeling for a temperature. She mouthed a few words, but there was no sound. It was like his brain had been shut off.

James began to sway on the spot. He bit into his lip, feeling blood spill into his mouth. A strong emotion began to build up inside of him and he closed his eyes against the pain. It traveled up through his legs, to his spine, creeping up the back of his neck, and exploded into his head. James balled his hands together in a fist as his nails dug into the palm of his hand, unable to bear the pain in his head. His eyes sprang open.

The pain had stopped. "James, what - "

He fell to the ground on all fours, breathing heavily.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Lily!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"Sirius!" Lily shouted. "What happened, are you ok? Did Death Eaters attack you – are you hurt? What were you _doing_ to get Death Eaters to attack you?"

Sirius held up a hand. "Calm down, it's nothing," he said, sitting up slightly. "Might've gotten a few cracked ribs, but all in all I'm good. Her, however…" Sirius pointed towards the teacher.

Lily looked into the next bed over and her eyes widened. "What is _she_ doing here? All Bella told us was that you were here!"

Sirius shrugged. "Well, I found her outside – some Death Eaters dropped her off on the Hogwarts Grounds. I think - "

" _Where_ is she, that little…" Breanna stormed into the Hospital Wing, eyes blazing as Remus followed behind her holding her back.

"Breanna, deep breaths, calm down. Let's not do anything irrational," Remus said, speaking calmly into her ear.

Breanna nodded, backing off. "Fine."

"You mean Bella told you that Professor Sonetra was here, but didn't tell _us?_ " Lily crossed her arms. "Well, how do you like that," she muttered.

Sharp breaths sounded from behind her, and Lily turned around. "James – what are you – are you alright?"

He squeezed his eyes closed and bit into his lip. "James?" she whispered, touching his shoulder.

Then his eyes opened and Lily jumped, backing away slightly.

James dropped to the floor and Lily dropped as well, taking up his hand. "James, what - "

"Get him to a bed!" someone shouted, hoisting him up underneath the arms.

"No, I - " James looked over and recognized the new people in the room. "Remus, I'm fine, just – I'm good, I can walk now, thanks."

"James," Lily asked, steering him towards a bed and sitting him down on it, "what happened?"

He looked up into the faces of his concerned friends. Slowly, a small smile spread across his mouth.

"I remember."

**Author's Note: Thank you VERY much for reading – really hope you liked it!**

 

**Next Chapter: There's some Charles stuff... That'll be fun. :D And, of course, plenty of moments with each of the pairs...**

 

**Until next time!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	18. Royal Flush

**Chapter Eighteen: Royal Flush**

_“I remember.”_

Lily froze, a frown stuck on her face. “What did you say, James?”

“Lily – I remember you!” He grinned as his fellow classmates stared incredulously at him. “Hey, Padfoot - ” Sirius’ eyes widened at the use of his confidential name – “we need a new prank for Transfiguration class, alright? And you, Remus.” James turned his head, nodding towards him in the turn. “We still on in two weeks?”

Remus laughed loudly, holding his stomach as James referred to their late night travels as the Animagi and werewolf. “Wouldn’t miss it,” Remus replied.

Lily squealed, throwing her arms around his neck. “You’re back! I was so worried I’d never have the real James again…”

“Hold it there, tiger,” Sirius laughed. Remus stepped forward and wrapped his arms around Lily’s waist, yanking her off of James. “He may be back, but he still needs air to breathe.”

Breanna snickered as James blushed, sliding her arm around Remus’, holding him close to her side.

Lily rolled her eyes at Sirius, grinning like a maniac.

“Beg your pardon,” Madame Pomfrey said loudly, pushing Bella and Lily out of her way, hurriedly. She opened a drawer, digging through it frantically. Sighing, relieved, she found a green liquid. Madame Pomfrey spun around, heading straight towards Sonetra, knocking Lily onto James’ bed.

She uncorked the potion just as Dumbledore walked into the room, Bella and Peter on his heel.

“Sirius,” Bella whispered, completely ignoring the commotion on the opposite end of the room. “Are you any better?” she asked, gently touching his rib cage.

He laughed and pulled Bella’s hand away quickly, holding it in his own. “I don’t think I’m the one you should be asking,” he replied, gesturing towards James.

Bella’s eyebrows furrowed together in confusion. “What?” she questioned, eyeing Lily curled up in James’ lap.

“I remember who everyone is now,” he chuckled.

“ _Really?_ ” she said, grinning.

“Keep it down!” Madame Pomfrey screeched irritably.

“ _Poppy_ ,” Professor Dumbledore said calmly, “she’s gone.”

“No,” she stubbornly refused, stirring the liquid solution again. Hastily, Madame Pomfrey pried Sonetra’s stiff jaw open and poured small amounts of the green bottle down the teacher’s throat.

The room silently held their breath. Soon, the green substance overflowed, forming a thin line trailing down the side of her cheek, onto the clean pillows.

“Madame,” Dumbledore whispered, “I think you need to stop – this is all a fruitless attempt at the inevitable. She is dead.”

Pomfrey gave a loud sigh and pulled a curtain around the bed, cleaning up.

The students gave each other looks mixed between relief that a Death Eater was gone, and shock, seeing as she was a teacher that everyone in school knew.

“Whoa…” Lily muttered, frowning. “I never thought she would ever – _die._ ”

Breanna nodded, shrugging.

“Wait,” Bella interrupted, ruining the solemn mood. “So… You just got your memory back?”

James smiled. “Yeah.”

“Just like that?”

Frowning slightly, he looked over to Lily and back at Bella. “I guess – why?”

She shrugged. “I always thought that your brain was triggered with a memory and everything came back then.” Bella’s eyes glowed as she tried to figure him out. “James, what happened _just_ before your memory came back?”

“I, uh…” James put a hand to his mouth, gasping slightly. His eyes darted to the white curtains surrounding Sonetra’s bed, and back to Bella’s inquisitive face. “Nothing,” he rasped, struggling to swallow correctly. “Just talking to Sirius and Lily – that’s all.”

Lily blinked and turned to look at James, suspicious. “You need to get to bed – it’s been a long day,” she said, grabbing him by the hand and dragging him out of bed.

“Er – yeah. ‘Night, all!” he yelled over his shoulder as he was pushed through the swinging doors and into the hallway.

“You little _liar,_ ” Lily laughed, poking a finger in his chest.

James smirked. “You just know me _way_ too well.”

“Is that a good thing?” she asked slyly.

“Of _course_ , it is,” he replied, nudging her in the shoulder playfully.

Lily laughed. “So – going to spill your secret anytime soon?”

James nodded, becoming serious. “When I got my memory back, was at the same time I saw Professor Sonetra lying in the Hospital Wing.”

“You mean to tell me,” Lily exclaimed, outraged, “that your memory was brought back by that _horrid_ teacher and not even Sirius or Remus?” She glanced away, hurt skirting across her face. “Or me?”

James shook his head as they jogged up a staircase. “No, Lily – but I think I know why it was her and not you.”

Lily looked up at him hopefully.

“My last memory – you know, before I was knocked out – was a vision. Course, after my vision was finished, I tripped and landed on the table.” Lily laughed softly, but without a trace of humor shown on her face.

James continued. “I saw Sonetra being killed by Voldemort himself. The ugly hag…” he added coldly, as an afterthought.

“What – why was she killed?” she asked.

James scratched his head. “He said he was looking for someone and threatened Breanna’s parents – along with that other woman in their department – if they didn’t tell who it - ”

“Breanna’s parents? They’re _alive?_ ” Lily laughed loudly, bouncing up and down excitedly.

James nodded, smiling. “Anyway – Voldemort killed Sonetra for not obeying him _exactly_ as he said.”

The pair stepped into the Gryffindor common room, Lily continuously giggling. “Finally, some _proof_ they’re alive!”

James shrugged, scoffing slightly. “If that’s what you call it…”

Lily paused, watching James. “Why would it not be called proof?”

James sighed, dropping onto the couch lazily. “Do you remember my first vision?”

Lily nodded, sitting on the arm of the long couch. “You said that Breanna’s parents and the other woman were murdered. But, of course that’s obviously not right, seeing as they’re alive. It was just a mistake.”

James shook his head frantically, looking at Lily. “No,” he said sharply. “There are no mistakes – I can’t afford to have mistakes.”

Lily laughed slightly. “It’s fine, James – one small mistake. _And_ it was fixed in the end. So it’s no big deal.”

“That’s exactly where you’re wrong, Lily, this is a _huge_ deal. Imagine what would happen if there was another ‘mistake’ like that. Or,” he said, “it may not have been a mistake at all.”

“What are you getting at…” Lily muttered, leaning closer.

“I mean,” James whispered, “Voldemort, might actually _know_ that I can see him whenever he uses an unforgivable curse. Maybe the first vision was all a set up.”

Lily gasped, realizing the actual problem. “And if it was a setup, who was it Voldemort really killed then?”

James shrugged. “Useless Death Eaters. Or maybe just Muggles found at the wrong place and wrong time. My guess is he used a Polyjuice Potion that stayed in effect after they were killed.”

Lily shook her head, disbelieving.

“I only hope Voldemort doesn’t know about my ‘gift’ and everything was really setup for the Ministry of Magic to find their bodies, instead of setup for _me._ ” Lily nodded, understanding his problem. “And now you know why I was so frustrated the other night when everyone found out her parents were alive.”

“Oh – right…” Lily blushed as the night’s memories flooded her thoughts. “Yeah, I bet that was pretty bad.”

“Yeah, it sort-of was.”

“Yep.”

The room began to grow silent with an awkward air falling around them. James cleared his throat, hoping to fill the silence.

“So…”

Lily looked at James. “Yes?”

He shrugged, no words coming to mind.

“Um… Maybe I should go to bed,” Lily said softly, feeling highly uncomfortable around James now.

“No!” James quickly jumped up, blocking her path. “I mean – have a seat. Tell me what’s happened since I was unconscious.” He pushed Lily onto the couch, sitting beside her. “Tell me all about your big date with _Charles_.”

Lily’s face heated up in embarrassment.

“Whoa,” James said, smirking slightly. “Either he gave you one hell of a kiss or something; otherwise you wouldn’t be blushing so much.”

Lily shook her head, putting a hand to her forehead.

“Lily?” James whispered, touching her cheek gently. “What’s wrong?”

“We broke up.”

James’ eyes widened as her eyes welled with small tears. Carefully, he wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close. Lily dropped her head on his chest and sniffed, feeling James begin to stroke her hair behind her ear. “What happened, Lily?”

“It just didn’t work out – he wanted Liz, that’s all.”

James frowned. “I’m so sorry.”

Lily shrugged, laughing weakly. “The funny thing is today – right before you woke up – I found Charles kissing Liz! In front of my own eyes!” She giggled, attempting to shake off her grief.

“Lily, you’re hysterical – stop acting tough.”

Lily covered her face, laughter turning rapidly to sobs. Slowly, James pulled her hands away and held her delicate fingers within his own.

James spoke. “So he… _cheated_ on you?”

Lily nodded, eyes closed. Before any sobs continued, she threw herself face first into James’ shirt, taking him by surprise.

“It’ll be alright, Lily. It’s over now.”

Lily nodded as James kissed her hairline.

_The little bastard… He’s going to pay…_

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

“My, my, my…” Breanna giggled. “They certainly wanted some time alone – and rather _quickly_ , I might add.”

“Oh, leave those two alone!” Remus scolded, jokingly. “At least be kind enough to make fun of them when they can be here to _defend_ it.”

“Aw, take away our fun, why don’t you, Remus?” Sirius barked, laughing. He immediately stopped, cringing. “Damn ribs…”

Dumbledore walked swiftly to their sides, towering over them. He gestured toward the hallway. “If I may?”

The group nodded, following their headmaster obediently. Sirius used his arms to pull himself up, but stopped, gasping sharply. “Professor, I’m going to have to pass on this one.”

“Ah – of course,” Dumbledore said, smiling kindly. “I shall speak to you later, seeing as you are incapable of mobility.”

Sirius nodded and closed his eyes, sighing deeply.

“Now,” Dumbledore said, standing with his hands behind his back as the door swung closed, “I heard from a source that you thought Professor Sonetra was a Death Eater due to a note you found…?”

Breanna nodded and rummaged through her pockets, finally pulling out a battered up, slightly ripped piece of paper.

Dumbledore read it, his eyes traveling over the words – several times, in fact. “No denying it’s her handwriting.”

Breanna allowed a smile on her face, crossing her fingers that Dumbledore would be on their side.

“However,” he said, cutting off her hopeful thoughts, “this does nothing now.”

“What do you mean this does nothing?” Bella hollered, jabbing at the note. “It’s all right there! You even said it’s her handwriting!”

“But this does not prove she is, in fact, a Death Eater.”

Remus started to think. “Wait – wait a second. If she was a Death Eater, there would be a Dark Mark on her arm, right?”

Bella’s eyes widened and she jumped up and down on her heels. “Yes! Just go check her arm, Professor Dumbledore, you’ll - ”

“No.”

Bella spun, looking at Breanna slightly. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

Breanna’s face had gone back to its normal pallor from the past few weeks. “I mean, when a Death Eater dies, their Dark Mark is removed from existence. It’s the only kind thing he’s ever done for his Death Eaters – let their name be cleared instead of dragging it through the dirt.” She shrugged. “Although, it was mainly for Voldemort’s benefit as well. Whenever a Dark Mark is removed, Voldemort must also feel it – therefore, he knows when one of his kind is killed.”

Remus’ jaw dropped. Dumbledore smiled. “My dear, where did you learn this extensive knowledge?”

She shook herself from the slight trance she was in. “My parents.”

Dumbledore nodded, continuing to look at the sixth years happily. “You all have been of great assistance. I’m terribly sorry that Professor Sonetra could not be proved guilty of any crime. However, she is also dead and proving her guilty would do nothing.”

Bella agreed, understanding. “I guess.”

He turned to face Breanna. “I hope to find your parents back at home – healthy and happy as they always were. But I must ask you not to inform the other students unless absolutely necessary. It could…” He threw around his hands, looking for the right word. “Well… Cause a panic over something that’s already been done. If the time comes for everyone to know, they will be informed.” He gestured towards the stairs down the hall. “I suggest you get to bed, now.”

The four students nodded obediently.

Dumbledore smiled down at them as they left. “Too responsible for their own good…”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Mr. Black,” Dumbledore boomed, smiling as he entered the infirmary again.

“Hey, Mr. D., how’s it going?” Sirius said smartly, grinning as Madame Pomfrey rolled her eyes, exhausted.

“I’m rather well, although I would prefer you call me Professor.” He leaned in and whispered. “If anyone else heard you, they might actually think I’m more of a friend and unable to punish them effectively anymore, yes?”

Sirius smirked and lowered his voice as well. “No offense, Professor D., but if you’re in the slightest bit hinting at James and my self, you are _sadly_ mistaken.”

Dumbledore nodded, acting serious. “Yes, you two _would_ be a lost cause, wouldn’t you?”

Sirius laughed and spoke as Madame Pomfrey swept back into the room with a small glass in her hand. “You know, Professor, I have to say - ”

Dumbledore cleared his throat and looked pointedly at the nurse.

“Here, Black,” she said, forcing the liquid down his throat. “You’re in for a rough night.”

Sirius nodded.

“Of course, you already know that, what with all of the bones you’re _already_ broken,” she muttered to herself, walking around the bed to fix Sirius’ bed sheets.

Dumbledore chuckled softly. “Thank you, Poppy, for all of your assistance. I must, however, ask for some privacy to speak to the boy alone.”

She bowed her head quickly and left the room, closing the door to her office behind her.

“She seems to have gotten rather comfortable with you, Mr. Black.”

Sirius’ lip curled, smiling slightly. “Yeah, we’ve had several chances to get to know each other.” He reached for a glass of ice cold water and downed it in two gulps, sighing heavily. “Did you know her husband cheated on her with her own best friend? And she gave up men altogether, being the reason why she buckled down on her magical healing studies and came to Hogwarts?”

 

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, slightly amused. “I did _not_ know that, as a matter of fact.”

“And,” Sirius continued, setting down his glass and crossing his arms over his chest, looking relaxed, “did you know her brother was murdered by Voldemort three years ago?”

Dumbledore nodded. “That, I did know, as much as I wish I didn’t. He was a year away from becoming a Herbology teacher here, too. Good man.”

Sirius tilted his head back, his smile gone. “I’m glad she’s gone.”

Dumbledore smiled sadly. “Mr. Black, you’re a smart young boy, aren’t you?”

Sirius looked puzzled for a split second, wondering if his headmaster was actually talking about him – Sirius _Black_. Sure, he had some of the highest grades in their class, but he had never thought of himself as _smart._ He had been called funny, been called brilliant (in the case of a highly thought out prank), and occasionally people even commented on his wonderful personality. But _no one_ had ever said he was smart, before. Shrugging, Sirius saved his thoughts for later. “I guess,” he answered.

“Then you understand we can’t do anything in Professor Sonetra’s case. She is gone – even proving she’s a Death Eater won’t get us anywhere or do us any good.”

Sirius lowered his head, mumbling, “That doesn’t mean I don’t hate her for what she did to us.”

Dumbledore nodded, understanding that they had perfect reasoning to dislike the teacher. “You probably figured out what we said out in the hallway, didn’t you?” he asked.

Sirius picked up his wand, twirling it expertly between his fingers. “Listening charm,” he said, grinning broadly. “What can I say, it kills me I can’t be everywhere at once.”

Dumbledore laughed. “I figured you might do that – you’re highly predictable sometimes, Mr. Black.”

Sirius shrugged again as the comment Dumbledore made got into his head, making him uneasy. He dropped his wand on the side table.

“I just have one question before I depart.”

“Shoot,” Sirius said loudly, crossing his legs comfortably.

“You and Miss Figg saw these Death Eaters, correct?”

Sirius nodded.

“Outside?”

Sirius nodded.

“And it’s nearly midnight?”

Sirius nodded.

“Would you explain why?”

“Professor, you’ve just asked three questions – all that I’ve answered – and you only asked me to answer one.”

Dumbledore laughed. “One more?”

Sirius shrugged. “Alright, then.”

“Why were you outside past midnight, Mr. Black?”

“We were on a walk. That’s all.”

“Mr. Black, I’m going to pretend you were merely watching from a window and couldn’t sleep,” he said, “instead of looking for an excuse to break the rules and ‘walk’ with your girlfriend.”

Sirius turned red, blushing. “Yes, sir.”

“Believe it or not, this old dinosaur once used to be a teenager, too, “Dumbledore said, referring to himself. “I’ll let you know – I had my share of girlfriends. And in my day – we didn’t ‘walk.’”

Sirius let a small smile crawl onto his tomato red face, trying not to laugh aloud. “Yes, sir,” he repeated, watching the infirmary doors close behind the headmaster.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily woke up in a surprisingly good mood. She hopped in the shower and dressed in the normal Hogwarts uniform, pulling her hair up into a pony tail for a change.

“Morning,” Breanna said through a mouthful of toothpaste.

A loud thump sounded on the other end of the room. Lily raised an eyebrow, amused, as Bella untangled herself from the covers on the floor. “Yeah, thanks for waking me up, guys…”

“No problem,” Lily smirked, picking up her bag. “I’m going to find James – meet you at breakfast.”

She bounded down the stairs, finding a pale, thin boy sprawled across the couch, a magazine under his head.

“Remus?” Lily gently prodded him awake.

“No – wait - ” Remus sat up quickly, the cover of the magazine sticky to his face. “Lily,” he sighed, peeling _Triple M_ off his cheek. “How are you?”

“Sorry to wake you up,” Lily muttered, looking apologetic. “I at least thought you might want to know – classes start in a little while.”

Remus blinked several times, adjusting to the bright light that had filled the common room. “Right – thanks.”

Lily smirked. “Oh – and do you, by chance, happen to know where James is?”

Remus sucked in a deep breath and hollered. “James!”

Lily rolled her eyes. “ _I_ could have done that.”

“But you weren’t smart enough to, were you?” Remus pointed out, grinning. He then shrugged at her after hearing no response and stood up, heading towards the boys dormitories. “Doesn’t sound like he’s up there.”

Lily nodded. “Thanks.”

She left through the portrait of the fat lady and made her way through the halls. Once inside the Great Hall, she noticed James, sitting next to Peter.

“Morning!” she said, happily, plopping into the seat beside him. “I’m _starving!_ Feels like ages since I had a decent meal.”

James nodded.

“Oh, these are for you,” Lily said, giving James the bottle of pills Madame Pomfrey had given her, for James.

He nodded again, his mind somewhere other than the present.

Lily looked from his face, to his empty plate, then back to his face. “James, what’s wrong – you haven’t eaten _anything_.” She allowed a chuckle. “That’s not normal.”

He shook his head and forced a smile. “No, no – I’m just fine. How are you?”

Lily raised an eyebrow. “Ok, James, don’t know what’s going on here…”

He glanced at the Great Hall door again and looked at Lily, smiling genuinely this time. “Sorry, Lily – I’m a bit out of it this morning.” James looked down at the food, grinning. “Looks great, doesn’t it?” He helped himself to several pieces of toast and a large stack of pancakes and picked up a bottle of syrup, pouring the rest of its contents onto his food.

Lily held a hand out, stopping his fork from digging in. “James – what’s gotten into you?”

“Nothing, Lily, it’s alright!”

She sighed and flopped a pancake on her plate, seeing she would get nowhere with this conversation.

James continued turning around all breakfast whenever someone stepped through the entrance. As breakfast ended, his toast had one bite and the pancakes were left untouched on his plate.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“ – page four hundred and eighty-two!” Professor McGonagall shouted at the mass of sixth year Gryffindors as they filed out of the classroom, James in the lead.

He had been waiting all day – _all day_ – to be free of classes. He had another priority on his mind at the moment.

_There he is._

James set off at a fast walk, finding his target in the bustling crowd. He cut in front of his path, glaring.

“Kroyce.”

Charles took a step back, slightly confused. “Potter…”

“We need to have a chat.”

Liz stepped up and eyed the two. “James, what’s, uh… What’s going on?”

James didn’t answer her. “ _You_ know why,” he hissed, looking directly at Charles.

“I know what?”

James shook his head, unbelieving. “Don’t even pretend you don’t know why I’m here.”

“Look, if this is about Lily - ”

“You’re damn right it’s about Lily!”

Charles took in a deep breath, sighing heavily. “I didn’t mean to hurt her – I fully intended - ”

“I don’t care what you ‘fully intended’ to do, Kroyce. You hurt her and that’s all that matters to me,” James cut in.

“Look – Liz and I got back together and I was going to come back and tell Lily right after it happened!”

“You _cheated_ on her!” James shouted, shoving Charles’ arm.

Charles seemed to be jolted. “I would never cheat on her – she’s a wonderful person. But _you_ seem to need me going out with her to realize that yourself!” He pushed James back, cornering him against a wall.

James burned red. He’d had it – that was the last straw.

Angry, James lost control, swinging his fist to collide with the side of Charles’ face.

Stunned, Charles froze, reaching up to his face. He blinked and looked back at James. “That’s it.”

James was thrown to the ground as Charles pulled back his fist and punched him repeatedly.

Their bags were dropped during the fight onto the floor, ink bottles and quills spilling out and breaking. The two boys continued rolling on the floor, ignoring Liz’s protests to stop fighting.

“ _Trifidus Scissium!_ ”

James and Charles were thrown to opposite walls, split from each other.

“Ow – shit.” James rubbed the back of his head, sitting up. He looked over and saw a bright flash of red hair before he was on his feet and being dragged to the nearest prefect bathroom.

“Lily – what are you doing?”

She pushed him against a wall, concern in her eyes. “Are you alright, James?”

He shrugged, reaching up to his nose. He pulled his hand away and saw a stream of blood. “I guess I _feel_ fine…”

“Good,” Lily said sharply, turning around to pull out several paper towels from the dispenser. She shoved a fistful into James’ hand. “Those go on your nose.” She tilted his head back slightly, putting the paper towels in his hand to his nose. He held them there as Lily used her own paper towel, cleaning off his lip.

James swallowed, feeling the distance between them grow smaller.

Hastily, Lily pulled away and grabbed another paper towel. She sighed loudly, holding his arm out in front of the light. A long gash ran down his forearm, apparently from a piece of glass or a quill he had rolled over during the brawl. She ran some water over the paper towel and dabbed at the cut gingerly.

James sucked in his breath.

Lily stopped and looked up into his face. “Don’t _even_ start complaining, James.”

James looked down. “What – why?”

She rolled her eyes and continued cleaning his arm, refusing to look at him any longer. “James, why on earth did you even start a fight with him to begin with? And,” she added, jabbing a finger into his chest, “it better be a good answer.”

James scratched his head, feeling a bump from when he had been thrown against the wall from Lily’s spell. “I’m sorry, Lily, I just didn’t like seeing you get hurt.”

Lily dropped the paper towel into the sink and put a hand on her waist, glaring up at him. She had the upper hand. “James – I’m a big girl! I can stand on my own, I don’t need you to fight my battles! And I _don’t_ need a prince!”

“I just - ”

“No!” she shouted. “I can’t believe you would go out of your way to purposefully _fight_ him! That’s so _childish!_ I never would have thought it from _you!_ ”

James dropped his head slightly. “I’m sorry.”

“No kidding – you had _better_ be! Do you think you even solved anything?”

James shrugged.

“Did you honestly think beating him up would fix anything?”

James shook his head. “I got so caught up in everything,” he mumbled.

Lily sighed again, reaching for the paper towel. “I’m split,” she muttered, talking mainly to herself. “On the one hand, I’m shocked you would ever do this to defend me. While on the other hand, I’m almost _flattered_ you did.” She smiled slightly.

James pulled the wad of paper towels away from his nose momentarily, feeling no blood any longer. “Lily, it kills me to see you hurt. I can’t _stand_ it when anyone does that to you – that was just my way of…” James shrugged again at a loss for words. “Getting back at them for hurting you, I guess.”

Lily nodded, not looking at him any longer. “James, when you put your heart out on the table, there’s no guarantees in the game of love – it’s like poker _._ ” She smiled. “You may end up with a royal flush, winning everything, while, again, you might only have an ace high – and lose. Charles – he just wasn’t _my_ royal flush.”

She carefully removed the paper towel again and took out her wand, muttering, “ _Fasciola_.” A white bandage shot out of the end of her wand, wrapping snuggly around James’ wrist. He flexed his hand, testing the durability of the bandage on his arm.

He turned and stared into the bathroom mirror, scrutinizing himself. “Man, I look awful.” Lily stood by his side, looking at him in the mirror.

“That’s a nice shiner you’ve got there,” she commented, smirking slightly as he reached up and touched his left eye, cringing. “If you had thought twice about getting into a fight, you might look a bit better.”

James chuckled, looking down at his robes, noticing the ink marks smeared on his outfit. “I better go change, huh?”

Lily nodded, agreeing with him. “That’d be a good idea.”

“Thanks, Lily. You know, for getting me patched up and all.”

“Don’t,” she said, pointing a finger accusingly in his face, “think you’re getting out of the dog house this quickly. I know you _meant_ well…” She left the sentence to hang in the air.

James sighed. “Yes ma’am.”

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

_Sirius Black. Animagus! Can you believe it? I never thought I would ever see the day he would break the law like_ this _to help out a friend._

_A werewolf! I must admit, now I see him in a completely different light. Not that I want to, of course, it’s just… To think, a boy I’ve known since age eleven, if not controlled, could kill any one of us in a moments notice!_

_But_ Sirius! _He –_

“Bella!” Lily yelled, pulling her diary out of her hands. “I’ve said your name three times!”

“Oops,” Bella muttered, grinning sheepishly. “Can you give my diary back now? Please?”

Lily tossed it back onto the bed, allowing Bella a chance to mark her spot where she left off.

“So?” she asked, looking up after storing her diary in a desk drawer. “What’s so important you needed my attention this _very_ minute?”

Lily sighed and flopped onto her bed and pulled a pillow over her eyes. “Do you know what James just did?”

Bella smirked. _James, James, James – all she ever talks about…_ “What did he do?” she asked, attempting to sound interested.

Frustrated, Lily threw her pillow to Bella, who caught it, sitting up. “You remember, I told you today that Charles and I split up.”

“Of course,” Bella replied, evil thoughts about Charles running through her mind. She stood up and sat on the side of Lily’s bed. “What – did he say something to you?”

Lily shook her head, breathing in deeply. “I told James we had split up as well, and he had the _nerve_ to track him down and start a _fight_ with Charles!”

Bella’s eyes widened, not expecting this answer. “He hexed the Head Boy?” she asked astonished.

“No – oh, no, no, no!” Lily shouted, her voice rising slightly. “It was a _fist_ fight!”

“James did _what?_ ”

“Exactly what I’m thinking!” Lily exclaimed, slightly irritated.

“He’s never done that before – not even to Snape.”

Lily nodded and began pacing the room.

“Well,” Bella continued, shrugging, “I think it’s sweet.”

Lily’s jaw dropped. She managed to barely register what Bella had said when whispering, “You think _what?_ ”

Bella smiled and moved back to her own bed, taking out her pocket-sized diary. “Yes, well, I think James standing up for you was romantic.”

“How can you think fighting someone – physically _hurting_ them – is romantic?” Lily asked, dumbfounded. “I can understand the fact he was trying to – to – _avenge_ me or something, but honestly! To go out of your way and _intentionally_ hurt someone?”

Bella smiled secretly. “He’s never fought anyone before, right?”

Lily nodded, dropping into a wooden chair by one of their dressers.

“Then why would he choose this moment above all others to pick a fight?”

Lily shrugged and sighed, shaking her head. “Tell me oh great know-it-all.”

“This means James is feeling something for you! He doesn’t see you as _just_ a friend anymore, if you catch my drift…” Bella giggled, pulling her legs onto the bed, hugging them close.

“Oh, please, I’ve heard this a million times before – one million and one won’t change my thoughts.”

“Lily, just hear me out!” Bella protested. “Things are different now, you’re not enemies anymore.”

Lily stopped her complaints and protesting and sat silent, listening.

“James has been with you nearly every minute he can since our break. You’ve been _completely_ oblivious to the signs he’s giving you! Blushing whenever you’re near, doing things _especially_ for you; this is just another thing to add onto your ‘wall of James’!” Lily shook her head as Bella continued. “Are you _blind_ , woman?”

“Bella, he doesn’t feel that way about me.”

“Oh, come off it, he’s head over heels for you!” Bella crossed her fingers, hoping for a confession from Lily any minute now…

“No, Bella, he’s not. A-and,” she stuttered, standing and jabbing a finger in the air, “ _even_ if he was, I could never go out with him and let my heart be ripped to shreds! I won’t settle as a trophy girl!”

“But you _won’t_ be, because he likes you, Lily, maybe even _loves_ you!”

“Stop it, Bella; he won’t ever feel the same!”

“Lily, he - ” Bella froze, eyes wide. She stood, walking in front of Lily, smiling kindly. “Feel the same?” she repeated.

“Yes,” Lily blurted out, crossing her arms over her chest stubbornly and blushing a furious red. “It like James, I’m finally admitting it – are you happy now?”

“Happy? Am I happy?” Bella laughed and gripped Lily’s upper arms, grinning. “Lily, this is great! You two will be wonderful together!”

“Now you’ve got to swear – you can’t tell _anyone_.”

“Deal,” Bella said eagerly, acting like a child.

“Not even Sirius.”

Bella’s mood dropped. “I can’t tell Sirius?”

“Not even Sirius,” she repeated.

Bella huffed. “Are you sure?”

“Positive.”

Bella grumbled and walked back to her bed. “You just had to take all the fun out, didn’t you?”

Lily grinned. “I guess I’ll let you tell your diary _all_ about my love life with James Potter.” She laughed. “Speaking of which, what was so important that your quill was moving fifty miles per hour _and_ you were ignoring me earlier?”

Bella’s eyes lit up, excited. “You remember, last night with those Death Eaters Sirius and I found – they never actually saw _him._ ”

“Course,” Lily replied, raising an eyebrow. “I just assumed you two were hiding.

Bella shook her head. “Oh, no, Sirius _attacked_ them – with his own, bare paws.” Bella giggled, laughing as Lily stared blankly at her, clearly not understanding the joke.

“Paws? What are you on about?”

“Sirius,” Bella whispered, “is an Animagus! He can turn into a _dog!_ ”

Lily nearly felt her eyes bulge out of her sockets. “Your nutters!” she shouted. “That’s illegal! He would never risk that much!”

“He did!” Bella said, grinning. She sounded almost proud of Sirius. “That was rather sweet, also, what he did, you know.”

“What he did? Bella – will you stop with the cryptic messages already and explain what happened?”

Bella raised an eyebrow, slightly confused. “You mean James never told you? I would have expected by now you would’ve known - ”

“Told me _what_ , Bella?”

“Uh-oh…”

Lily slammed a fist on her bed mattress angrily and walked swiftly from their room, knocking on the sixth year boys’ dormitory door less than seconds later.

“Open up!” Lily shouted, pounding again.

The flung open. Lily swallowed as James appeared, ushering her inside, while holding an ice bag to his eye. She also noticed he had still been in the process of changing his ink stained clothes, and now had no shirt. She blushed deeply, looking away. “Lily, what’s wrong, what happened?”

_Boom._

Lily rolled her eyes, smirking at the sight before her. James seemed to still be a mess, now pulling a plain t-shirt over his head, Remus was unmoving on the bed, studying the night’s homework, and Sirius and Peter were covered in ashy soot, laughing hysterically from their newly finished game of exploding snap.

“What’s wrong, Lily?” James repeated, slightly baffled as to why Lily would even want to speak to him after what had happened earlier… He touched his bandage, flinching from the memory.

“Oh – right.” Lily put a hand to her forehead and closed her eyes, laughing as if a joke had just been told. “Sirius,” she said, opening her eyes, “what loony stories have you been telling Bella?”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, grinning as he stood next to her and wiped his face clean.

“Something about – well, call me crazy for even thinking this is serious, but - ”

“Spill it,” James cut in.

Lily said her words all in one breath. “Bella thinks you’re an Animagus.”

The room fell eerily silent. Remus dropped his book, allowing it to fall and hit the floor with a deafening thud. “I – I beg your pardon,” Sirius said in a voice a few octaves higher than his normal range. “A what?” he asked, his face pale.

Lily narrowed her eyes at Sirius, worried now. “You – no you can’t – you’re not _really_ a - ” She gave up, darting her eyes from face to face, looking for a sign that it wasn’t true. “You’re an Animagus, aren’t you?”

Sirius shrugged and dropped the washcloth he had been holding onto the floor. Within the blink of an eye, Sirius was no more – all that remained in his spot was Padfoot. His muscular dog-form looked up at Lily, leaning his head to the side, and then bowed his head in defeat. A sort of weak whimpering noise echoed through the room.

Lily squealed and jumped backwards, gripping onto James’ arm in an attempt to keep a grasp on the reality she felt slipping from her reach.

Sirius grew into his human form, smiling, almost, apologetically.

“And – _you!_ ” she shrieked, rounding on James. “You _let_ him become an illegal Animagus?”

James shook his head, stepping away from Lily. Instantly, he, too, had transformed, this time into a brilliant white stag, along with a full head of antlers.

Lily found no words. She even found it hard to breathe, seeing as her breaths were more like gasps of air. She looked helplessly to the two remaining Marauders, their heads drooped as well. Swallowing, Peter morphed into a small rat, scurrying around the floor of their dormitory.

Lily backed away, tripping over her feet as fast as she could, landing on James’ bed, directly across from where Remus sat. Hurriedly, Lily pulled her feet up, shuddering. “Well,” she muttered as the three boys returned to their normal state, watching her moves very carefully. “Go on,” she said firmly to Remus, face determined. “What are you, then, Remus? A – A _lion_ or something?”

Remus merely shook his head sadly.

“Lily, I am a werewolf.”

Lily felt as if the walls holding her world up were falling down. These boys – she’d know practically her whole life – they had secrets, ones they had kept hidden for years. They weren’t supposed to keep secrets from her; they were friends! Nothing was how it all was _supposed_ to be…

“I am the reason they became Animagi in the first place.”

“‘A werewolf, when in the company of an animal during the full moon, finds itself at ease and free of all pain and torment,’” Sirius quoted from their old Defense Against the Dark Arts textbook.

“‘A werewolf cannot bite an animal effectively unless the animal is a human,’” James continued, quoting from the same book they had used third year. “We’ve all got that chapter memorized, Lily. We had to read between every single line to double check our assumptions on what we had been planning on doing that year.”

“It was a risk we were willing to take,” Sirius said, smiling. “And, no,” he added, “my girlfriend is not loony, she was, in fact, telling the truth.”

Lily felt tears fall from her eyes, but felt a belly-full of laughter hiccupping through her tears.

James crawled onto the bed behind her and wrapped his bandaged arm around Lily’s shoulder, using his other to wipe away the tears.

“Sorry, Lily.”

Lily nodded silently and readjusted her position, leaning in on his shoulder and closing her eyes.

James raised an eyebrow and looked at the other Marauders, each of their faces suppressing a smile.

“Lily?”

“You’ve been in enough trouble today as is, James,” she muttered, smiling.

James laughed, seeing she was in a better mood, her tears gone. “Hey – _they_ were the ones who broke the promise and told their girlfriends about our ‘secret identities,’” James argued, smirking. “I would have, but I wanted to keep a promise for these boneheads over here.”

Lily laughed. “It’s alright. I forgive you.”

James grinned. “Thank you, Lily, how could I _ever_ live with myself without you forgiving me.”

Lily poked him in the stomach. “Hey – you’re still in the dog house for the fight, James.”

He rolled his eyes. “I expect I’ll be out soon enough.”

“Oh, _really?_ ” Lily sat up and narrowed her eyes, smiling. “We’ll see about that one…” She stood up and left the room, sauntering out slowly. She had left the bait, dangling in the air, waiting for a fish to catch.

James laughed loudly, jumping up from his bed, taking the bait eagerly.

Once the door closed, Sirius rolled his eyes and smacked himself in the forehead.

“What now?” Remus asked, clearly unfazed by what had just happened between the two.

“Those two!”

Remus nodded, urging him to continue.

Sirius sputtered. “Those – _two!_ ”

Remus nodded again. “We’ve heard that part already.”

He pointed at the closed door, face amazed. “I swear – they are the _only_ people in the world who _don’t_ realize what they have!”

Again, Remus nodded. “Padfoot, I’ve known that for quite some time now. You just need to – well, just sit back and relax. Wait for their time to come – it _will_ come, and when it does, it will come naturally.”

The door swung open and Bella bounded in, grinning.

“Sirius, we’re going to play Charades.”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “What is _happening?_ ” he shouted. “First, Lily comes in yelling at us about becoming Animagi, and next thing you know, she’s flirting with James!” Sirius leaned in closer. “By the way – that was _your_ fault for telling Lily, thank you very much.”

Bella smiled, innocently. “What can I say – I thought James would have told her by now. I didn’t realize she hadn’t already _known_.”

Sirius shook his head irritably. “And after this happens, instead of being very apologetic, you want to play Charades?”Bella nodded eagerly.

“Forget it!”

“Sirius!” she whined, latching onto his arm. “Come on – just one game. I’ll go first.”

Before he could protest any longer, Bella held up three fingers.

Sirius sat on the end of his bed and leaned his elbows on his knees. “Three words – second word.” Bella bit her lip and pulled out her wand. She muttered a soft spell and a red, heart-shaped balloon floated out of her wand. She grabbed the end of the string and poked her finger at the balloon several times.

“Uh… Balloon – red – string!”

“It’s a _heart_ ,” Remus said from across the room. “It obviously means love or some emotion of the heart.”

Bella nodded her head excitedly at Remus, looking back at Sirius. He narrowed his eyes. “Heart – no – love – love? Ok, second word is ‘love.’”

Bella jumped up and down and held out two hands. She made a growing motion, moving her hands away from each other.

Sirius seemed puzzled. “What the heck is that supposed to mean…?”

“Loves,” Remus supplied. “Whenever someone does that, you’re supposed to add on the correct ending to the word. In this case, ‘love’ became ‘loves.’” Bella nodded, pointing at Remus eagerly.

Sirius nodded. “Oh, right – ok, I get it.” Bella signaled with her fingers again. “First word, first word…” Again, she pulled out her wand and a flower came out of the end. “Flower – white – stem – petal – uh… thorn!”

Bella looked at the flower and back at her boyfriend. “Sirius, there isn’t a thorn anywhere on the flower.”

Sirius shot her a look. “Well… Roses have thorns.”

“Does it _look_ like a rose?”

“No…”

Bella rolled her eyes and stepped in front of Remus’ bed. He looked up from his homework and said simply, “Lily.”

Comprehension dawned on Sirius. “Oh – right – I get it! Lily is a type of flower – ok, ‘loves’ and ‘lily.’ Gotcha.”Bella moved her hands again. “Third word,” Sirius said, getting excited. She pointed toward the doorway. “Door – wood – brown – staircase…?”

“ _No_ , Sirius! You’re _awful_ at this game!” She ran to the door and opened it, pointing down the steps.

“Stairs – common room – Gryffindor!”

Bella turned to Remus, hand on her hip. He just sat on his bed, smirking at the pair. “James.”

Bella grinned and turned back to Sirius. Puzzled, he tried to put the words together. “Loves Lily James? Bella, is this _another_ game I’m supposed to do now – that makes no sense.”

“Sirius!” she hollered, stepping forward. “You’ve got it all wrong, you mixed up the words!”

“Lily loves James,” Remus said, a grin spreading on his face. “Let me guess,” he asked, “she didn’t want you to _tell_ anyone?”

Bella grinned. “I found out about five minutes ago, right before I accidentally told her about your little secret.”

Sirius came up behind her and tickled her softly on her side. “You have a problem with keeping secrets, don’t you?”

She giggled, smiling. “Well, yeah – but it’s for the best.”

Sirius rolled his eyes. “I’m sure it is.”

**Next chapter: The story moves ahead a few months, and the ending begins... only a few chapters left... (Trust me, this is the part when it really gets good...)**

**Also, I said I would update a new story soon... It's almost ready to post, so I'll try to do it sometime this week if I get enough free time off... Cross your fingers! (Maybe I'll use a study hall tomorrow to work on the story...)**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	19. Carisbrooke Castle

**Chapter Nineteen: Carisbrooke Castle**

Several weeks had passed and the wet slosh, formerly snow, had been cleared away, opening up the grounds for outdoor activities. The giant squid in Hogwarts’ lake had even floated up to the surface to play in the warm, April sunshine.

But things inside the castle had changed very little. Sirius and Bella celebrated their three month-anniversary three days after Remus and Breanna had celebrated their own anniversary. James and Lily merely turned their heads at the obvious continued to protest they were, “just friends.”

Charles brushed off the incident between James and himself, knowing it would merely lead to more trouble. And, he had reasoned, he deserved it. Lily had either forgotten about the fight or chose to not bring it up in future conversations, although many suspect the latter. It had etched a spot in her mind somehow, and she didn’t forget that moment three months ago.

Classes grew intense as their end of year finals drew nearer. Of course, they weren’t as overworked as those taking OWL’s or NEWT’s, but they were still finals all the same. Their free-time in the past was now reserved for extra homework or other school activities, which left small amounts to be together. There was, obviously, time to work on homework together.

And both James and Lily found plenty of time to work on homework together.

School began to slip down to the number two priority in Lily’s life. Occasionally, she would forget assignments and have to turn them in late. It barely hurt her grade, naturally, but the fact that Lily would repeat these careless mistakes over and over again was a shock in itself.

James told her he was getting concerned about her forgetfulness numerous amounts of times, but those conversations always ended up on different topics, such as Quidditch, their friends, or James’ latest vision.

In general, James’ sleep had increased a great lot, as opposed to when he had started receiving visions. He still continued to have visions – rather similar to nightmares – each night, however not all visions seemed to be about Voldemort. A few nights earlier, James witnessed a house robbery at a Muggle’s home. The odd part was that he knew neither the Muggle nor the robber.

These were the types of visions James would prefer to have. For starters, there was no murder or act that would have a horrid outcome on the whole world. The second reason was the fact that calmer visions didn’t affect his health as bad as a nightmare-like vision – a vision in which a loved one dies, terror reigns over a group of people, or Voldemort is involved – would affect him.

For example, when James saw the vision with the robber, he merely rolled over and went back to sleep, making a mental note to briefly mention it to Lily, mainly for amusement purposes.

But tonight was certainly not a vision such that he had seen before. There was _nothing_ relaxing about it.

“Lily!” James hissed up the girls stairs. “Lily, get _up_!”

He stomped around at the bottom of the stairs and then sat, grunting as he fell with a thud. It was no use trying to be quiet, yet loud enough to get someone’s attention. A ridiculous thought that he could even do that, really.

“James, what do you want? It’s three in the morning!”

James sat up incredulously. “You _heard_ me?” He laughed forcefully, a little louder than he had intended.

“ _Hush_! You’re going to wake everyone up!” Lily slapped him on the arm and walked over to the fireplace.

“Ouch… That _hurt_ you know.”

Lily ignored his complaint. She added two more logs and shot a small spark from the end of her wand into the fire. “Much better…”

“How’d you hear me? I was hardly _whispering_!”

Lily nodded and sat on the couch. She covered herself with a thin blanket and clutched a throw pillow to her chest. “Well, I was already awake.”

James looked down at her, mildly concerned. “Couldn’t sleep?” He tried to sit beside her, but she shooed him away to the opposite side of the room.

“I was up until past midnight working on homework. Before I went to bed, I ate some of my Sirius’ home cooking. He’s taking a class from the house elves now, you know…” she added, matter-of-factly with the smallest of smiles.

James laughed good natured. He had heard _all_ about his new decision to take up cooking, and had even tried some of his food he gave them. The taste of it depended entirely upon the fact of whether or not the elves had helped him.

“I think I had let his food sit for too long and something disagreed with my stomach.” James noticed her pale complexion in the flickering light. “I have been lying on the floor next to the toilet for the past hour. I barely had the strength to get down the steps.”

James immediately jumped into nursing mode. He found a bowl of dinner, several nights old. Moving quickly, James poured the remains outside the cracked window and returned the bowl to Lily.

“When did you last throw up?” he asked, finding several more blankets in a small closet. He carefully placed each on top of Lily and tucked the sides in on the couch.

She smiled at his acts of kindness. “Fifteen, possibly twenty minutes ago. I feel better now, really, just weak. Only a little bout of food poisoning, James. That’s it.”

He shook his head firmly, reminding Lily strongly of Madame Pomfrey. “You never know what it might come to – just precautions.”

Lily laughed, but felt her movement being constricted by the layers of blankets piled on her. She gave up on the though of arguing with him any longer. “James, _you_ called me down in the first place – was there something that you needed?”

“Right – that…” He looked almost as if he hoped Lily had forgotten about their reason for meeting.

“What is it?” Lily asked, alerted by his negative reaction. “Was it another ‘dream’?”

“Well – no, not exactly.” He laughed nervously, avoiding eye contact.

“James, what happened?” she demanded, daring him to change the subject.

“Lily, I really don’t _know_ anymore. It’s too fishy for me. I’m being set up, I just _know_ it.” James’ voice cracked nervously.

“Wait,” Lily said calmly, pushing herself into a sitting position with great problems. “Just relax. Everything is _fine_ ,” she said.

“Trust me,” James said, running a shaking hand through his hair, “nothing good could ever come from this.”

Lily put a smile on her face, hoping to calm James down. “You’re overreacting entirely too much. You’ve had - ”

“He talked to me, Lily.”

Lily blinked several times before the sentence took the full impact on her. “He? He who?” She dreaded the answer with every fiber of her body.

“You know exactly who I’m talking about.”

Lily brought her hands together, taking deep breaths. “How?” she asked, disbelieving. “How could he _talk_ to you?”

James stood, staring Lily down. “He looked directly in my eyes, Lily. This wasn’t an ordinary dream. He spoke. To me.”

Lily looked to be on the verge of tears. “But he _can’t_. How could he even know – it’s impossible!”

James paced in front of the fireplace. Behind the couch against the wall, the large shadow of his body moved back and forth, creating a darker room. “I could feel it coming,” he said, replaying his memory. “I could see… Breanna’s parents, both of them.” James’ voice was coming in short gasps now. “They were bound and gagged… Like Muggle shows… Couldn’t _move_. Then – it just happened. Like it was a camera – he stood in front of them and he said…” James swallowed, stopping his movements. “He said I had one week.”

Lily had unconsciously leaned closer the entire time James was speaking, and realized, with a gasp at the end of his story, where she was. Tentatively, she felt for the bucket in case she couldn’t hold her stomach down any longer. Not because Sirius’ cooking was coming back up; for a reason entirely separate from that.

Lily hovered over the bowl for several minutes, but was able to keep her stomach down. Bravely, she set the bowl down and leaned back, taking in a deep breath.

“One week,” she said. “Until he _kills_ them?”

James sat on the small table in front of Lily. Slowly, he reached out for her hand and held it in his, squeezing it slightly. “Maybe,” he muttered. “Maybe it’s an exchange – them for me.” Groaning slightly, James shrugged. “He wants something.”

Lily’s logic began to kick in. “How are we supposed to know where? Or what, or how, or _anything_? Didn’t he say anything else useful?” Lily grew furious, shaking with anger. “Bloody bastard…”

James felt relieved at her use of language. The amusement of her swearing lightened the situation.

“The where,” James said, “is Carisbrooke Castle.”

Lily looked dumbfounded. “Has someone been staying awake during History of Magic again?”

James smiled. “Thankfully, no.”

“How?” she asked plainly.

James shrugged.

“Did he say it? A sign, perhaps?”

“Nope – I just saw it and I knew.” He frowned, trying to understand it himself. “It’s like all the other dreams that people have. When you’re dreaming, everything clicks, but once you think about it when you’re awake, you have no idea where you think everything up.”

“So, we’re going off a hunch.”

“Exactly.”

The pair stared at each other.

“You have to tell them.”

James crossed his arms over his chest protectively.

“Yeah, I know.”

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* Later *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

Lily opened to the back of a large book, tracing her index finger down the length of the column. She made a soft, breathy noise, and flipped backwards several pages.

“Did you find it?”

Lily nodded, stopping her search. She dropped her finger onto the name of the castle, looking up at James. “Is this the one?”

He nodded. “That’s it, alright.”

Lily leaned closer to the text. “‘Carisbrooke Castle, located in the United Kingdom, is home to the resident ghost, King Charles I. Believed to be haunted, many Muggles worldwide fear to travel to this castle for vacation.’” Lily flipped the page and gasped. “Is _that_ what it looks like?” She put a hand to her mouth. “It’s amazing – look at the _size_ of that castle! I’d say it’s about twice as big as Hogwarts!”

James pointed to a spot on the lawn before the castle. “And that’s where they were tied up.”

Lily immediately stopped showing her amazement over the picture, slightly ashamed. “Well then,” she muttered. “We have to do something.”

James bit his lip. “What if it’s another trap?”

Lily reached up to her hair and tugged on a loose strand, thinking.

“What if he just wants me to show up and Breanna’s parents are really dead and just wants me to _believe_ that they’re not. Or maybe her parents are alive, but he won’t ‘trade’ them for me. What if I don’t _want_ to do any sort of trade?”

Lily immediately rose from her chair and stood directly before James. “No what ifs, James. It only makes it worse.”

James squeezed his eyes closed and brought a hand up to his temple, rubbing his forehead roughly. “Lily, I honestly can’t handle this anymore. I’m sick and _tired_ of having to be the hero. I can’t _take_ it anymore. I _quit_!” James threw a book to the ground angrily and brought his hands to his head, pulling out his hair.

Lily heard a soft clicking behind her, and realized it was the wooden chair, rocking back and forth on the legs as if it were in an earthquake. It slowly rose several inches off the ground, but Lily threw herself on top of it, sending it back to the floor with a thud.

James swallowed.

“Out.” Her voice lowered to a deadly whisper. “Now.”

James nodded and followed her obediently outside the library, head dropped like a boy deprived of candy.

Once the doors swung closed, Lily turned and began to yell at James. “You want to explain why you let your emotions get to you?” she shrieked.

“That hasn’t happened since first year,” he explained, ashamed.

“But that’s _different,_ ” Lily said. “That was when no one was able to control their magic. To get _that_ upset after six years of training your magic is incredible. You shouldn’t still be using wandless magic, James.” She sighed, weakening at the sight of his hurt face. “You know how much energy that takes without a wand.”

James nodded. “I couldn’t perform spells right the rest of the night,” he said, remembering his first year.

“And,” Lily added, “I really don’t think that we can afford any outbursts like that. Especially this week…”

James looked up at her sharply, almost surprised that she would say anything related to _that_ , but soon realized how right she was.

Smiling, Lily grabbed James’ hand and pulled him down the hallway at a slow walk. “Everything will be just fine,” she said quietly. “We’ll all get through this. But you know what’s coming next.”

James nodded, squeezing her hand softly. “You get the girls. I’ll get the guys.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Gryffindor Common Room ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

“And the reason why you had to interrupt my masterpiece was…?”

James threw a look at Sirius, brushing his doughy hands off on his robe, leaving two smeared handprints on his chest. Slowly, James shook his head and looked straight ahead, ignoring Sirius’ question. “I would hardly call making cookie’s a masterpiece – if that’s what you called a _cookie_ …”

“True,” Sirius said, not ashamed, “there was only one cookie instead of three dozen, as the recipe called for, but I think it tasted just fine.”

Remus rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. “Sirius, if you were planning on making one cookie consisting of approximately three dozen cookie the recipe said, you should use the same amount of ingredients.”

“Well I _caught_ my mistake after the flour and eggs, cause I changed the other stuff.”

“That’s my _point_ , Sirius, you need the same throughout the entire recipe, not just parts of it!”

“I thought it tasted fine…”

“Peter, you think anything tastes good.”

James said the password quietly under his breath and the Fat Lady obediently opened her portrait for the four boys to enter. He walked slowly up the stairs to his dormitory, dreading each step he took.

“What’s takin’ so long, Prongs?” Sirius asked, very loudly. “Think we could move it along? It’s not like we’re walking to our deaths.” Sirius deepened his voice. “‘Dead men walking.’”

“Knock it off, Sirius.”

Sirius frowned, upset. James had almost _never_ acted this way with any of his friends, snapping at the smallest joke. It was an odd behavior he hadn’t expected from his best friend.

“Finally,” a voice from within their dormitory room groaned. It was Bella. “Lily told us that James wanted to speak to us.”

The boys looked up at James, extremely perplexed. The girls were also here? This was _big_.

James closed the door behind the Marauders the second Remus’ foot entered the room and began to spout off a combination of spells that locked and sound-proofed the door.

_Whoa._ Sirius slumped onto his bed, jaw dropped. _This is huge._

“Nothing,” James said fiercely, “and I mean _nothing_ , leaves this room.”

Peter nodded, walking backwards slowly. Unable to notice the pile of books behind him, Peter tumbled over backwards, landing on his backside. He didn’t move.

No one moved.

“James, sit,” Lily commanded, pointing to a chair. “You can’t overwork yourself,” she said, subtly reminding him of his accident earlier.

James nodded, staring obsessively at the floor, avoiding direct eye contact.

“The Potter family,” he softly began, “is known for the generations that pass on talents to the heir. Each is different.” No one spoke. “Last December, I figured out what my… _gift_ is.” He spat out the word with great difficulty. “Basically,” he said, making the story short and simple, “I’m a seer.”

He let the statement soak in. Even Lily seemed surprised. She already knew _exactly_ what he was and everything that had happened to him over the past few months, but him saying it straight out as he just did seemed to have a different impact on her.

“So,” Sirius muttered, his forehead creasing, “you can see stuff?”

James patiently nodded. This was the part that he was least looking forward to. Soon they were going to start to ask how it all worked, when he saw everything, _what_ he saw.

“Only whenever something bad happens. And at night,” he added, trying to answer with as many details as possible, so as to end this conversation quickly.

“Can you see Sirius whenever he steals the House Elves’ food when they won’t let him use it to cook?” Bella asked, completely honest.

James couldn’t help but laugh. “Not that innocent of crimes. Usually,” he said, bracing himself for the reaction, “I see Voldemort whenever he’s plotting something or…” James looked up at his friends, and immediately back down to the floor. “You know.”

“No,” Breanna said, beginning to understand. “We don’t know. James, what did you see?”

“Your parents,” James said, his voice cracking, “are alive – but I can’t guarantee the information. I already messed up once, I’m not assuming anything again.”

Breanna nodded, hiding her happiness.

“I saw them killed by Voldemort, but I believe that it was a decoy used to confuse the Ministry of Magic. I’m assuming the Polyjuice Potion that was used remained after they were killed. But the next week,” he continued, “Bella found a note on Sonetra’s desk that showed Breanna’s parents were alive. And that contradicted with my original vision.”

Lily nodded, urging him to continue.

“I had a vision, though, that showed Voldemort with Sonetra, speaking to her parents who were very much so alive. Sonetra’s luck, however, seemed to have run out, and she was killed that night.”

James took a deep breath.

“Over the past few months, I was able to control the visions a lot better and got used to a lack of sleep, but last night… Well, it doesn’t count.”

Bella swallowed and pulled her legs close to her chest. She rested her chin on her knee, fear in her eyes.

“I saw a castle. Carisbrooke Castle. And Breanna’s parents were in front of the castle, bound and gagged.” James shrugged at the marvel of his vision the night before. “It was like a camera panning a shot. It turned Voldemort came into view and said, ‘You have one week.’ That’s it.”

Silently, Lily put a hand up to her eyes, wiping away her tears.

“Until…?”

James shrugged, looking over at Remus helplessly. “I think he wants a trade – me for Breanna’s parents.”

Sirius slapped his thighs, standing up and checking his watch. “So there’s… what, six days left?”

James nodded.

“Well,” Sirius sighed, allowing a smile, “plenty of time for us all to brush up on old spells, don’t you think?”

James felt his insides lift, immensely powered by the thought of his closest friends all ready to back him up in the tightest situations.

“Wait,” Peter muttered, “I thought the Dark Lord just wanted James – why do we all have to go?”

“Wuss,” Sirius called, restraining from throwing out a fist at the boy’s face. “You’re just scared.”

“No, I’m not,” Peter said defiantly. He immediately returned to his normal composure, looking down. “What happens if we all show up and it ruins our chances of getting Breanna’s parents back?”

Sirius sent Peter a glare, slapping James brotherly on the shoulder. “We’re gonna go, right, James?”

James blinked several times, his eyes unmoving from a spot on the floor.

“No.”

Lily looked around the room at the many astonished faces. She stopped on James, trying to decipher his look. “What do you mean, James?”

“You guys can’t come. This is about me. I have to do it myself.” He felt his eyes begin to water, and quickly swiped his fist across his face. “Pete’s right. It might mess it all up.”

The back of Peter’s neck deepened to a dark shade of red.

“I’m going solo. I’ve had to depend on you all up until this point, but it’s now time for me to do this on my own.”

“James, you don’t _have_ to do it on your own.” Bella tried to get through to James, reaching for his hand. “That’s what friends are for, to _support_ you. And you are one incredibly lucky guy, because you have six, wonderful friends.”

James nodded and released Bella’s hand, scratching behind his ear. “But did Voldemort tell _you_ all that you had one week? He told me. Just me. If it means risking myself for Breanna’s parents, so be it. Life would go on.” He gestured to the group of them. “You all have each other.”

“Dammit, James,” Lily whispered, penetrating James’ eyes with her own. “Don’t speak like that. You know that nothing will happen to you. It _can’t_ ,” she said.

He nodded, deciding not to fight them anymore. “Either way, I’ve got to find Voldemort and figure out where this Carisbrooke Castle is.”

“You’re crazy,” Sirius muttered, looking at his best friend. “Why don’t you want any _help_ , James?”

“I don’t want him to hurt any of you anymore,” James said strongly. “I’m _tired_ of him ruining everyone’s life and I _know_ he won’t stop until I make him. Not you. Not us. _Me_.”

Struggling to accept this fact, Sirius nodded. “I got it,” he whispered. “I would’ve done the same thing, Prongs.”

James grinned. He pointed his wand toward his bedroom door and lifted all of the spells he had placed on there. “Thanks, guys,” he said, opening the door for his friends. “I’m glad everyone’s taking it so well…” James glanced at Lily and winked.

One by one, each person left the room, giving James a sympathetic or watery-eyed look, including a hug from Breanna.

“You’re amazing, James,” Lily said. She was the last one to leave the room, and took the moment to hug him close to her. “We’ll have to work on some spells you forgot about after dinner.”

“Ah,” James muttered, swallowing hard. He felt his heart begin to pound and his blood throbbing in his ears. _Now or never, Potter._

“Yes?” Lily asked, looking up to James.

Slowly, James closed the door again. “Lily, I need to tell you something.”

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“I feel _horrible_.”

Bella gave her friend a hug, smiling at her. “Breanna, it’s perfectly fine. James wouldn’t blame you in the slightest.”

“I feel so _heartless_ , though,” Breanna explained. She continued walking down the darkening corridors, hoping to make it to the library long before dinner. “I’m glad that he’s a seer. I’m glad that he saw my parents. I’m _glad_ he decided to track down Voldemort!”

“It’s _alright_ , Breanna. True,” she admitted, “it may _seem_ heartless, but I can assure you that it’s perfectly natural.”

“Then why am I not worried about James?” Breanna seemed to be pleading with Bella to find a good answer.

After a few moments of silence, Bella found the words to say. “Number one; you’re too excited about your parents. And number two; we all know, already, that James will be just fine.” She swallowed and looked over at her friend, beginning to doubt herself. “Right?”

Breanna crossed her arms, feeling a chill of air throughout the hallway. “Exactly,” she said, reassuring herself.

“Breanna, you _should_ be glad that he found your parents. We now have some good proof that your parents are, in fact, still alive.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “But I still feel bad. I just wish we could help James.”

“We can. Support him in every way possible. Make sure he gets plenty of rest. Make him eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”

Breanna gave her friend a look of disbelief. “And is this you’re way of saying he doesn’t sleep or eat _enough_?”

Bella laughed. “Well, we all know that those boys can eat, but whenever they’re put under stress, that all leaves.”

“We could find some information about this Carisbrooke Castle that James has to get to.” Breanna shrugged, throwing her hair over her shoulder. “We’d have to research all of the passage ways and secret tunnels.” Breanna snapped her fingers, an idea coming to her. “We could make one of those map thingy’s for him.”

Bella laughed, glad to have her back in a good mood. “I heard from Sirius that it took them several months to find everything and record it all.”

“But do you _really_ think there can be a castle bigger than Hogwarts?”

“Good point,” she muttered.

Breanna reached the library doors and stopped before entering, turning to Bella. “Muggles have already found and studied the castle, so there should be plenty of information already recorded. I’m just guessing Voldemort’s borrowing the castle for a few weeks, and set up a few Muggle repelling charms for several miles around the castle.”

Bella smiled at Breanna, handing over some of her books. “There couldn’t be a better way to help James out.”

Breanna grinned.

“That will be your job,” Bella said, making Breanna’s research sound official like a mission. “Find every single nook and cranny there is to find in that castle. Tell James all that you can; where everything is located. If time permits, we’ll try to make a map for him.” Bella leaned in, serious. “Let there be no surprises.”

Breanna nodded, unnerved by Bella’s look. “Got it.”

Bella nodded. “Good. I’m going to hunt Sirius down,” she said. “You start reading up on that castle.”

Breanna mimicked a soldier, saluting Bella with a smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()() Gryffindor Common Room ()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()()

Peter was the first to leave their dormitory, bounding down the steps without a word. After spending a few hours at the Great Hall during dinner, he returned to the common room, hoping to have everyone cleared out by then. He turned and walked into a dark corner in the common room and sat in a chair, silently.

He heard several pairs of feet walking down the boys’ staircase. After he was sure of his privacy, he held his left hand out before himself. Slowly, almost dreading, he pulled back his robe over his forearm and cringed at the sight.

A skull about two inches long was etched into his skin, glowing and black, with a snake protruding out of it’s mouth. If you were to let silence fill the room for long enough, Peter would’ve sworn that you could hear the soft hissing constantly echoing in your head.

He carefully placed one finger on the jaw of the skeleton and his middle finger on the snake’s head. It glowed a deep scarlet, looking like fresh blood seeping out of his skin. Peter watched it closely and noticed how the skull seemed to be moving on his arm, but soon realized it was his own arm, twitching under the pressure.

He lowered his arm, letting the sleeve fall over the top of his hand and conceal the tattoo. Peter closed his eyes in deep concentration.

_Master_ , he thought, hoping for a direct connection. He heard a dull buzz in his ear. Peter had become used to this sound and was finally able to resist the temptation of pulling his hand away to cover his ears. _It is Peter Pettigrew. I’m here._

**_Did he get the message?_ **

_Yes, Master. He will come._

**_When?_ **

_I don’t know_ , Peter thought. He felt his powers draining from him second by second. He needed to make this conversation quick. _I believe that I have talked him into traveling alone, Master._

There were a few moments of silence, and Peter felt the satisfaction of a mental smile from the Dark Lord. **_You amaze me, Pettigrew. I never thought you would have had the logic to persuade Potter._**

Peter took this as a compliment. Most people would think that he was being spoken down to, but he had found this statement highly encouraging. _Thank you, Master._

**_You will come when he does._ **

Peter swallowed, hoping that his fear did not show to the Dark Lord. _Yes, Master._

**_Contact Rookwood before Potter departs. He will travel with you._ **

_Yes, Master._

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Does James _really_ think we’re gonna let him just waltz to this castle without us?” Sirius asked, highly puzzled.

“Of course, mate.” Remus helped to pack away Sirius’ cooking materials, relieved to see that he was retiring from his hobby. Sighing slightly, Remus stopped with a spatula in his hand. “Sirius, what would _you_ have done?”

Sirius held up an egg beater, waving it around in the air passionately. “I would’ve told you lot to come with me!”

Remus laughed heartily. “ _Liar!_ ”

“I am _not_ ,” Sirius protested stubbornly.

Remus swatted Sirius on the arm with his spatula, leaving a large red mark in the form of the utensil shape. He pointed the spatula at Sirius accusingly, narrowing his eyes. “Tell the truth, Padfoot.”

“I would’ve,” he said, softer than before.

“Pretend,” Remus said, packing away the spatula, “you can see Voldemort every night in your dreams. One of your friend’s parents’ are stuck within Voldemort’s grasp, and the only way to get them out is to confront Voldemort yourself. Bringing friends, however, might risk your friend’s parents’ lives, or your friends’ lives. Do you want to bring them, still?”

Sirius raised an eyebrow. “Yes…?”

“You wouldn’t do that, Sirius. You and James are both the types of people who would sacrifice yourself before anyone else.”

Sirius sorted through the items on the kitchen counter, roughly pushing a carton of eggs off onto the floor. He cringed slightly at the crack, and looked guiltily at Remus who merely rolled his eyes. “Pretend,” Sirius said, playing Remus’ game, “I went to this castle alone without anyone. But then, without me knowing, my friends followed me and helped me without me figuring it out. I’d be able to pass a lie test if I was asked, wouldn’t I?”

Remus laughed and shook his head. “That’d be nice wouldn’t it?”

Sirius looked quickly up to Remus. “What do you mean ‘wouldn’t it’? It’s completely possible. I bet James leaves on a broom. All we have to do is wait for a bit until he’s far enough along for us to follow. Or,” Sirius said, eyes glowing, “better yet, some of us could show up before and after so we could keep an eye on him. You know, just watch out for him. Just in case.”

Remus nodded, holding up a pair of tongs. “It’d be better if we were able to know when he was in trouble and _then_ come to his rescue.”

“But nothing beats the classic of just going with him in the first place.”

Remus zipped up Sirius’ bag and handed it to him. He waved his wand quickly and cleaned up the eggs. “He won’t _let_ you. And you know that if you somehow manage to go anyway, he’ll kill you.”

“Eh,” Sirius said, unaffected by this statement. “The threats come and go. It’s part of the job.”

“What is?”

The boys turned around, surprised to hear another voice other than their own in the kitchen.

“Bella, _darling_ , how are you?”

“Sirius, I don’t buy it for a second.”

Remus laughed and grabbed the bag from Sirius. “I’ll take this back, shall I?”

“Actually,” Sirius said, smiling innocently, “might I be able to join you?”

“And get rid of me?” Bella asked, pouting to Sirius. “I think _not._ ”

“Later,” Remus said quickly, exiting through the door.

Sirius grinned down at Bella and kissed her. “This place sure brings back memories, doesn’t it?”

She laughed, nodding. “However, at that point in time, we didn’t seem to have as many worries, did we?”

“ _Speaking_ of worries…”

Bella smiled. “I heard you two talking about James.” She took Sirius’ hand, smiling sadly at him. “Remus is right, you know.”

“Yeah…”

Bella’s eyes widened. “Oh, so you _do_ know, you were just being difficult.”

Sirius made a face at her as if it had been completely obvious. “Of _course_.”

She laughed.

“Seriously, though,” Sirius said quietly, “I can’t just stand by and watch as everything happens. You _know_ that I can’t just watch; I have to be in the action.”

She nodded, crossing her arms. “I distinctly remember you chasing Death Eaters in the form of a dog.”

Sirius’ eyes grew large. He began to breathe faster, his heart pumping rapidly. “Bella – Bella, that’s _it_!” He grabbed her shoulders and shook her gently, his face glowing radiantly.

She blinked, barely affected by his reaction. “What is?”

He let go of her roughly and ran a hand through his hair, pulling at the roots. “We’re unregistered – they won’t know – _genius_!”

Bella slugged him in the arm, the same spot that happened to have the spatula mark.

“Ouch… That hurt,” he muttered, rubbing his arm swiftly.

She rolled her eyes. “I can see the hurt all over your face.” She raised an eyebrow at Sirius, looking for an answer. “So… What were you going on and on about?”

“Animagi,” Sirius said, staring her down. “We could easily pass as animals! As easy as _that_ ,” he whispered, snapping his fingers simply.

Bella laughed loudly. “You seem to be forgetting a few minor details.”

Sirius cocked his head to the side, looking exactly like the dog Bella had seen him transform into. “And that is…?”

“You and Peter are the only Animagi left. The rest of us are plain old humans.”

Sirius made a face at her. “You poor people.” He leaned in close, smirking mischievously at her. “You have _no_ idea what you’re missing.”

“You know,” she said, as quiet as Sirius, “I’m really content keeping my body the way it is.”Sirius raised his eyes suggestively. “I wouldn’t blame you for that.”

Bella laughed loudly, pushing Sirius softly. She turned from the room and ran, Sirius close on her tail.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Breanna climbed several flights of stairs leading to the Gryffindor common room, exhausted from hours at the library. She managed to lose her way several times because the stairs changed directions without her realizing it.

“Alberic Grunnion,” she said to the woman in pink.

“Certainly, m’dear,” she responded, the portrait swinging wide open.

She stumbled through the opening and made it to the circular table. Worn out, Breanna dropped her bag with a thud. She noticed Peter sitting in the corner with his eyes closed.

Slowly, Breanna walked over, waving a hand in front of his face, knowing perfectly well that he couldn’t see it.

“Pete?”

His eyes immediately sprung open. He pulled his hand away from under his sleeve and ran it nervously through his hair. “Hello, Breanna,” he said with a forced smile.

“Are you alright?” she asked, genuinely concerned with his health.

“Just fine, thanks.” Peter stood up and moved around her. “I was going to do some homework, but I must’ve just fallen asleep.”

Breanna looked back towards the table he had been sitting at. There was noting there. No books. No quills. No _wand_.

She raised an eyebrow at him. “You sure?”

“Course I’m sure,” he said. Quickly, Peter made his way to the other side of the room, pushing open the portrait. “Have a pleasant night.”

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“James, what’s wrong?” Lily asked, concerned for him. “Did you have another vision? What happened?”

James walked around the room.

“Sit,” Lily commanded, pointing to the same wooden chair that she had told him to sit in earlier.

“I _can’t_ , Lily. I can’t keep still.”

She rolled her eyes and pulled out the chair for him. “You’re being silly. Just sit down, James.”

James shook his head several times, and then turned to Lily. Grabbing her by the shoulders, he pushed her down into the chair herself.

She almost began to laugh. “I’m not the one who _needs_ to sit.”

“Lily – _stop it_.”

Lily frowned, confused.

“Just stop.”

“James,” she whispered, “what am I doing?”

He pulled at his hair, circling the chair. “You’re driving me _crazy_ , Lily.”

She just sat there for several minutes as James walked around in a daze. “Well… If you tell me in specific what I’m doing, I could change it.”

James shook his head, his hair flopping back and forth across his forehead. “Everything,” he said softly.

Lily didn’t move. She didn’t say anything. There was nothing that anyone _could_ say to that statement. She just waited.

After another walk around her chair, he dropped to the ground before her, head bowed. “Your walk,” he whispered, “your talk, your thoughts, your feelings, your personality. Everything.”

Lily crossed her arms, offended. She felt tears tempting to float out of her eyes.

“Everything you’ve done,” he said, hoping to look intently into her eyes, but she avoided all contact. “You’re always helping me. And I have nothing to give back to you.”

Lily felt him reach out to her and take her hand. Swallowing, she looked back to him, finding striking brown eyes looking directly into her own.

“I can’t count the number of times you would stay up late into the night listening to my vision, help me with last minute essays, supporting me with every decision I make.”

Lily felt her chin tremble, tears falling freely, now.

James readjusted, kneeling before Lily. He took her hand and kissed it sweetly.

“Lily,” he whispered, “I love you.”

Lily nodded and roughly swiped away her tears. She sniffed, trying to calm herself, but it was impossible.

James felt a burden from the past months being lifted off of his shoulders, and he found room to breathe openly, again. He stood up, feeling much braver than he had before, and pulled Lily to her feet. “I love you, Lily,” he whispered again, taking her face in his hands.

Lily brought her hands up to her face, shielding her tear-streaked cheeks from view.

James just stood with her for several moments. Once more, he spoke to her sweetly. “I love you.”

“Don’t do this to yourself,” Lily whispered inaudibly behind her hands.

Puzzled, James pulled down her delicate hands covering her face. His face came into view, pale.

Lily dropped both of his hands and stepped around him, heading straight for the door. As she approached the wooden door, she grabbed for the handle and opened it in a surreal sort of reality. She looked over her shoulder one last time.

James had not turned around. His chin was resting on his chest. His shoulders dropped several inches. Lily watched as his legs shook under the weight and he collapsed quietly onto the grounding, kneeling in front of the empty chair.

She left.

**Author's Note: I'm a little mean for that ending, aren't I? :D**

**Next Chapter: The gang uses whatever methods they can to help James out. You’ll definitely get more information about Carisbrooke.**

**As a little note for anyone wondering, Carisbrooke Castle is, in fact, a real castle. However, I don’t think Voldemort ever really took over the place and kept everyone else away… That part was pretty much made up.**

**Hope you enjoyed it!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	20. Marauder in Training

 

**Chapter Twenty: Marauder in Training**

 

“We’ll go back to the basics,” Sirius said to James, setting down a wooden box onto an empty desk and pulling out his wand. “Levitation, four-point spell, disarming, and so on,” he listed. “Then we’ll add on a few of the more challenging ones, including invisibility, vanishing, and hex deflection.”

Sirius picked up a list and walked over to James’ spot on the desk and showed the long list to him, written in loopy writing. “Lily had some other sort of obligation tonight, but she was able to give me some good charms we could work on. Summoning, banishing, cushioning, defending, patronus – the usual.”

“Right,” James muttered, running a hand through his hair, shuddering. “Obligation?” James repeated, gaining the use of his voice again.

Sirius nodded, folding the paper and slipping it into his pocket. “Tutoring or something of the like,” he said, waving his hand around, shrugging. “She said she was sorry she couldn’t be here, mate.”

James stood on weak legs, nodding. “I’m sure.”

“Wand at the ready,” Sirius directed him, holding out his own wand. “I want you to levitate this into the air at approximately three feet above my hand and then back down.”James said softly, “ _Wingardium Leviosa_.” Slowly, Sirius’ wand lifted, moving slightly higher than three feet, and dropped back to Sirius’ hand.

“Be sure to control the descent,” Sirius said. “Imagine trying to levitate something that could break and you drop it like _that_. Nasty mess, that’d be,” he muttered, scratching his head, and pointing to the large box on the table. “Five feet,” he said, stepping away.

Again, James pointed his wand and the box rose.

“Good,” Sirius encouraged, nodding. “Nice and steady, nice and – _James!_ ”

A loud crash echoed throughout the room as the wooden box crashed to the floor, shattering to pieces and scattering its contents.

Sirius checked the door to the classroom. “I’m glad I thought to soundproof the place.”

James merely stood, staring solemn faced at the wooden shards, inches from piercing his leg.

“Well,” Sirius muttered, “I guess we could skip ahead to repairing objects…” He looked up at James. “Or, you know… we could always talk about why you’re completely _out_ of it today. No offense,” he said, “but levitation charms really aren’t that hard. I was hoping to start with the easy to help boost your confidence level, but I’m not so sure that’s working.”

James laughed feebly at Sirius’ attempt to cheer him up. “Let’s just say it’s been a rough year,” he said.

“As in…”

James shrugged. “You know, Voldemort being after me, after Breanna’s parents, the usual, I guess…” he muttered, conveniently leaving out his conversation with Lily two nights before.

Sirius nodded. “It’s all happening at once,” he agreed, looking at his friend helplessly. “You don’t really have a choice. Your gift was, pretty much, forced upon you. You just have to live with it.”

James raised a hand, pointing a finger. “It doesn’t help that earlier this week I worked myself into a rage and used wandless magic.”

Sirius crossed his arms, raising an eyebrow at him. “No, it really doesn’t, but you’ll be fine by tomorrow, Thursday at the latest.” He reached out a comforting hand, shaking his shoulder slightly. “You’ll be fine. We’re all rooting for you. _Obviously_ ,” he added, rolling his eyes at the previous statement.

James smiled graciously, thinking about Lily. “I know,” he whispered. And then, as if waking from a deep slumber, James shook himself and looked up, alert and awake, grinning broadly.

Sirius took a step back, amazed. “Feeling _better_?”

James crouched down low, concentrating intently. He made a motion, muttering something under his breath. Next thing he knew, Sirius was floating several feet in the air, rather close to the ceiling.

“Prongs,” he shouted warningly, “you might be feeling better right now, but you _did_ have that panic attack a few days ago, and you might not be, physically, up to par with your strength quite yet, and I _really_ would wish you didn’t try it out on me, especially when I happen to be ten feet into the air, no wand, and no cushions beneath me!” Sirius began to roll around in the air, partially upside down. He waved his arms around as he floated around, attempting to appear angry at his friend. “My handsome looks are at stake, James!”

James burst out laughing, but maintaining a strong grip on Sirius. “I think, for that comment alone, I should drop you.”

Sirius stopped moving, completely upside down by this point. He found the ceiling and placed his feet on the solid surface, feeling slightly comfortable at reaching stable “ground.”

“You wouldn’t,” Sirius whispered, astounded.

James laughed loudly. He swished his wand a few more times, and Sirius flew through the air, landing on the ground lightly.

Sirius took a deep, leaning against the wall. “You nearly rammed my head into the ceiling on that last summersault I just did.”

James smiled, ready to take on whatever spell Sirius gave him. “Live with it.”

!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!* Later *!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!

“You should have _seen_ him,” Sirius said in a loud whisper to the group. “Three patronus’ in a row, followed by seven body binds, two protean charms, and unplotting himself on a map.” Sirius sat back, allowing himself to be swallowed up in the couch cushions, in awe of James’ success. “I didn’t even _know_ you could be unplottable. I thought it was only for objects, but apparently not…”

Bella nodded, grinning at James, who was leaning forward onto his knees. “That’s amazing,” she said, resting against Sirius.

“And _then_ ,” Sirius added, “I turned around to read something off of the list and when I turned back, he wasn’t there.” Sirius raised his head, looking at Remus with a proud look on his face. “That little bugger used an invisibility spell on me, and proceeded to cast a jelly-legs jinx.”

Peter snickered, covering his mouth with his hand.

“I have _always_ wanted to do that to Sirius,” Breanna said, almost wistfully. “There are those that don’t freak out when they get the jelly-legs jinx, but then there are some who make a big deal out of it, which adds to the hilarity.”

The group looked accusingly at Sirius.

“ _What?_ ” he exclaimed, holding up his hands defensively. “I can’t help that I have a _boisterous_ personality.”

Bella rolled her eyes and jabbed him in the stomach. “Sirius, what have I told you about acting like you’re smart in front of everyone?”

Sirius rolled his eyes innocently. “Not to do it…?”

Bella nodded, smiling up at him. “Bingo.”

The portrait swung open and James looked up, his attention now elsewhere. “Excuse me,” he said to the five, and stood, politely.

Approaching the red-head, James stepped into her direct path towards the Girls Dormitories.

“Hello, Lily,” he said bravely, his heart beating rapidly.

Lily kept her eyes averted and hugged her books closer to her chest. “Hi,” she said quietly.

James shifted from foot to foot awkwardly, swallowing. “I was hoping I’d be able to talk to you for a little bit.”

Lily shook her head, no, and ran past him, up to her room.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily slammed the door closed and leaned against it, breathing heavily. She closed her eyes, allowing herself to slide to the floor in defeat.

_I can’t,_ she said, making excuses for herself. _He’d understand that I can’t._

_So why didn’t you tell him when he asked to talk?_

Lily squeezed her eyes tightly together, wishing she could stop thinking for just _one_ minute.

She picked up her bag and tossed it weakly across the room towards the bottom of her bed, landing upside down. Lily groaned slightly, but ignored the bag, choosing to lie on her back on the floor, staring at the ceiling.

_You broke his heart,_ that voice in her head echoed. _He came back to you just now._

Lily nodded. _And I shot him down again._

_Now you’re getting the picture._

Lily curled her hand up in a fist and pounded on the hard floor. Pain shot through her arm, but she was glad it was there. She was glad she was being punished for her selfishness.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Here’s the deal,” Sirius said quietly, leaning in the second James had disappeared into his room. “Saturday, James leaves for Carisbrooke Castle. Now, I plan on leaving as well, right after he does.”

Remus rolled his eyes and slapped his leg, getting the others’ attention. “Sirius, I already _told_ you it wouldn’t work.”

“ _Now_ , now, Moony, hear me out! It’s not that bad of an idea!”

Peter’s face had drained, leaving the white of his skin. “You’re doing _what?_ ”

Sirius laughed at Peter’s look. “Don’t wet yourself, buddy. Plus,” he added, “if we even go, we won’t make ourselves obvious.”

Bella spoke up. “I don’t think James would be trying to make it obvious either, Sirius.”

“You guys aren’t seriously thinking about following James, are you?” Peter asked, worried.

Sirius draped an arm around Bella, laughing. “No, Pete. We’re not going anywhere.”

The group looked sharply towards Sirius, aghast. “Really?” Peter squeaked.

“Really,” Sirius repeated, smiling kindly.

Peter nodded, looking away. “Well then. I think I’ll be slipping off to bed…”

Sirius nodded without a word, and watched the boy run upstairs.

“As I was _saying_ ,” Sirius said quietly, “James is leaving Saturday, and I know he doesn’t want us to come, but it wouldn’t hurt having us there to help out when he needs it. He’s not Dumbledore, you know.”

Breanna looked confused. “Sirius, you just told Peter that we weren’t going.”

Sirius waved his hand in the air, as if trying to hurry her up. “I knew Peter would have a cow if he knew we were actually going, but thought it’d be better to leave him out of this one thing.”

Bella frowned. “So you’re actually serious about this?”

He nodded. “‘Serious’ isn’t my name for nothing.”

Remus looked at Breanna, raising an eyebrow. “He has a bit of a point.” He looked intently into her eyes, hoping for an answer from her.

“Don’t look at _me_ ,” she said. “He’s _your_ psycho friend!”

Sirius nodded eagerly. “Come on, Moony. Do you _honestly_ want to leave James there without any help whatsoever? What would happen if he never comes back? Would you want that stuck on your conscience? That we _could_ have done something, but we didn’t?”

Remus sighed, giving up. “I think we all knew that we would eventually have to do this.”

Bella nodded, agreeing. “So I’m with psycho, here,” she said, pointing to Sirius.

Breanna nodded without a hitch. “Me too.”

The three looked over to Remus expectantly.

“Yeah,” he nodded. “I’m in.”

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

_Master._

**_What happened, Pettigrew?_** a harsh voice sounded through Peter’s mind, making him shake in fear.

_They are thinking of following Potter._

There was a small pause. **_They who?_**

_Black, Lupin, Figg, and Roysen._

Another pause, and then a small crackle of laughter. **_Roysen?_** the voice repeated. **_As in their daughter?_**

Peter nodded, and then remembered he couldn’t see him. _Yes, Master._

Another laugh. **_By all means, bring them! Be sure Roysen goes._**

Peter frowned. _But Master, I thought you didn’t want them._

**_Roysen is a completely different story. Be sure she comes._ **

_Yes, Master._

Peter released his fingers from his arm and took a shuddering breath.

“Pete?”

Peter blinked several times, attempting to figure out whose voice had just spoken. “Yes?” he said softly.

“Are you alright?”

It was James. Peter opened the drapes around his bed and smiled at James, lying on his bed, still in his school uniform. “I’m perfectly fine.”

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

“This shouldn’t take too long,” Bella said, flipping open one of the many books lying out on the table. James pulled up a chair nearby the Gryffindor common room fireplace, and dragged it to the table, taking a seat.

“By the looks of how many books I’m seeing, I really don’t think so.”

Bella ignored the comment, flipping through the pages of the dusty, old book. “These books contain information that will help you figure out what to expect.”

James raised an eyebrow.

“For _example_ ,” Bella said, pointing to a picture, “Carisbrooke Castle sits on top of a hill.”

James looked at her in amusement, leaning back in his chair with his arms crossed over his chest defiantly. “I’m waiting to figure out how this can help me at all.”

Bella shot him a glare. “Because it’s on a hill, there is a higher chance that Voldemort and his ‘crew’ will be able to spot you quickly before you see them.”

James shrugged. “But that’s a bit obvious, isn’t it?”

Bella crossed her legs. “James, if I didn’t tell you where it was located, I would have bet three galleons you would have attempted to enter from the bottom.”

James blinked. “Maybe.”

“Another thing,” Bella added, hiding a laugh, “is the castle’s roofs are open without a roof – at least, the majority are, as most castles were in the time period. If they aren’t open, they’ll have a roof, but without a great angle of depression. Therefore, you would be able to walk on the roofs without much problem.”

James smiled slightly. “And the reason you’re telling me this is so I know where to land?”

“Precisely.”

“Any more useful information?” he asked, slightly intrigued at her interpretations of the castle.

“Have you ever heard of King Charles I?”

James shook his head no. Bella continued.

“King Charles I was the first of all royalty to be known as a wizard. He was also one of many captured in 1647 and held prisoner. He attempted to break out twice, and was finally executed in the end. He now haunts Carisbrooke Castle.”

James nodded, wide-eyed.

“Along with this King, a few others taken hostage could have been wizards or witches, including his daughter, Princess Elizabeth. She passed away after catching a cold. Do _not_ ,” she said sharply, pointing a finger into his chest, “under _any_ circumstance trust ghosts you meet in that castle. We have no way of knowing whether or not Voldemort corrupted their minds. For all we know, Voldemort could have been the first speaking organisms those ghosts have seen in the past several hundred years.”

James smiled inwardly at the fact that Bella had just called Voldemort an _organism_. _He’s not human enough to be called a human._

“Got it,” James said, nodding obediently.

“Those ghosts could be used for observing all rooms in the castle and reporting back to Voldemort on your every move.”

James nodded again, growing tired. “Don’t trust anyone I meet. _Got_ it.”

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

“Rookwood?”

“No,” the dark figure replied sarcastically, “I’m Flitwick.”

Peter blinked.

“Of course it’s me, prat.”

“Right,” Peter said, standing in front of Rookwood’s chair. He shuddered. Peter _hated_ the dungeons. He would have thought that being part of Lord Voldemort’s circle would get you comfortable with dark surroundings. “The Dark Lord asked for me to speak to you before Saturday.”

Rookwood threw a pink teacup to Peter, nearly smashing on the floor from Peter’s clumsy hands. “Your portkey,” he said plainly. “Noon on Saturday.”

Pettigrew nodded and pocketed it, creating a large bulge in his right robe pocket. “Do we have assignments for this weekend, yet?”

Rookwood shrugged, in no hurry to find out. “Top secret,” he said. “He doesn’t want any chances of it being spilled whatsoever.” He shrugged. “It’s probably another scheme to become stronger or more powerful or something.”

Peter nodded absentmindedly. “Of course.”

After a quick debate with himself, Rookwod leaned close to Peter and said, “I heard from Mulciber that some threat of the Dark Lord’s is coming in Saturday.”

Peter bit his tongue and nodded. “Of course,” he said.

Rookwood sat back in his chair, smiling almost wistfully. “I hope I get to kill him.”

“What? Why would he want to kill him – how do you know?”

“Come _on_ , Pettigrew. Don’t be so daft,” Rookwood said harshly. “Why else would Voldemort have someone powerful come to us?”

He was silent.

“I’ve been working on the Unforgivable Curses and I’ve been _really_ good on the Killing Curse.”

“Great,” Peter said quietly.

“If I could just kill whoever that’s coming in, I’d be able to prove myself to the Dark Lord and earn a spot at his right hand side.”

Peter nodded.

“Don’t you _speak_ at all?” Rookwood shouted loudly. “You’ve hardly said a word since you’ve been here.”

“I’ve got to go,” Peter said quickly, walking away.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

“It’s _great_ ,” Remus said, highly enthusiastic. His attitude today was uncommon to most days when his lack of sleep usually took over his personality. “I told Professor Kettleburn I wanted to make up a lab I missed from last week and he just handed over the keys and said he was visiting his sister in Germany tonight!” Remus laughed, shaking his head. “New teachers – you’d think they would have heard from Hogwarts residents by now not to give keys to a Marauder…”

James laughed, glad to have Remus in such a high mood. “So what is it you’re teaching me? So far I’ve had spells, charms, and logic lessons.”

Remus threw James a strange look. “Logic lessons?”

James shrugged, smiling. “Sounds weird, but it honestly helped more than you’d think.”

“I’m _sure_ it did,” Remus said, holding back a laugh. “However, I feel my, uh – ‘lessons’ are more useful.” They approached a large shed and Remus stuck a large key into the lock and turned. “His secret stash,” he said, grinning broadly, swinging the door wide open.

Immediately, James heard a mix of several different sounds all at once. He winced in pain as a loud screech echoed in his ear. But looking around, James saw nothing but a large cage door straight ahead, followed by darkness.

“What the hell is this?” he asked, rather confused.

Remus nodded and closed the door behind them, pointing to a panel. There were several hundred numbers listed with abbreviations off to the side. “It’s basically his storage closet, you could say…”

James stared, wide-eyed at Remus as he stroked his chin, looking at all the buttons. “Storage for _what?_ ”

“The animals.”

If it was at all possible, James’ eyes had just opened farther. “And you’re going to sic one of them on me?”

Remus laughed. “Don’t think of it that way – its training. Be ready for anything that comes at you.”

James shuddered. “Will you tell me what it is you’re getting out?”

“Nope.”

An exchange of glares and grins lasted for several minutes. Finally, Remus turned back to the panel, squinting slightly. “I will pick an animal at random. You must defeat, befriend, or send the animal back into the cage. However, the rules in here are different than outside.”

James shot him a look of fear. “Meaning…?”

“Meaning you can use more than just your wand.” He cleared his throat, smiling. “You could say those logic lessons might come in rather handy, here.”

A quick stomp shook the room, and James looked around, but soon realized the doors weren’t open yet. “Let’s get this _over_ with. This place kind-of creeps me out…”

Remus punched three buttons in.

_237 CRP_

_748 DMG_

_566 ERU_

Hastily, he climbed a ladder beside the panel, leading to an empty loft. Grinning, Remus dangled his legs over the edge. “One animal will show up. You return them to their cage. The next comes. And so on.”

James nodded slightly, holding his wand above his head. He felt the entire shed shake again, including his insides. With fear across his face, James watched as the gate rose.

He laughed, losing his dueling stance and putting away his wand.

“Name!” Remus shouted from above.

“Crup,” James answered, amused. “And, to the Muggles, a Crup is also known as a Jack Russell terrier look-alike.”

There was a squeaky bark at James’ feet. He looked down, and the Crup began to bear his teeth, his forked tail unmoving.

“What do Crup’s like, James?” Remus asked, sensing a bit of a problem. “Think – this is the _logic_ part.”

“They like wizards and hate Muggles – I _am_ a wizard!” he shouted, dodging the swipe the small Crup took at his leg.

“And what do wizards have that Muggles do _not_?” Remus asked, speaking as if James were a four-year-old.

Finally it clicked. James pulled out his wand and held it in front of the animal. Immediately, the Crup barked playfully, wagging his tails around.

“Good boy,” James said, smiling, satisfied. He pulled a balled up piece of paper from his pocket and quickly folded it into an airplane. “Wanna play fetch?” he said, throwing the airplane into the darkness. Barking, the dog chased after the paper, straight into the cage.

“About time,” Remus said loudly, smirking at his friend. “And if you have any _more_ problems such as you had with a Crup, I have the power to abort everything and send them back to their cage with a second.” He pointed to something beside him that James could not see, resembling, what James thought, was a large button.

There was a creak, and James turned around, finding the cage had already risen to their level, and the door open.

“What the…”

He felt a swipe into his back and turned around, alarmed, pointing his wand.

There was nothing there.

“ _Dammit_ ,” James swore, reminding himself to hurt Remus after he finished.

“Name!” Remus shouted, clearly unaffected by this invisible beast’s presence in the room.

“Demiguise,” James muttered, rather upset. “Bastard…”

He backed into a corner and held his wand up to his temple, muttering, “ _Occaeco.”_

Remus gazed down, impressed with James’ quick thinking. He would’ve thought that James would try to send multiple spells at the Demiguise before turning invisible himself.

He watched closely, waiting for James’ next move.

A spout of water sprayed across the floor from the corner opposite of where Remus had previously seen James. He looked anxiously for the Demiguise to be covered in water, but saw, rather disappointed, that James’ plan had failed.

Remus had rested his head on his hands, watching the scene below him with unwavering eyes, and a pair of footprints appeared on the floor.

Immediately, a jet of light shot from the corner, hitting, Remus assumed, the Demiguise square in the chest. He saw a small splash in the water, and realized the beast was lying on his back. Slowly, his shape came in, revealing a silver-haired animal with arms as long as the three-foot body.

“Amazing,” Remus said, in awe of the creature’s elegant fur.

“This,” James pointed out, returning to his original form, “is the fur used to make Invisibility Cloaks. If it were not for a Demiguise, the Marauders would not exist.”Remus applauded James, laughing. “Bravo,” he called, as James put the animal back into his cage, waking him just as the cage closed.

“I’d step back for this one.”

James rolled his eyes, and stepped back as Remus had told him. “I think I can handle it,” he replied cockily.

Remus swallowed, his hand hovering over a large button beside him.

“Come on,” James whispered, crouching low with his wand out. “Let’s go…”

A large gray beast appeared, standing on all fours. He threw around his head, showing off the large horn on his nose.

James swallowed. He had _never_ , in his entire life, seen anything this large, merely ten feet away from him.

Thinking quickly, James reeled through every spell he had ever learned, settling on a shrinking spell.

“ _Reducio,_ ” he said. But to James’ surprise, the spell bounced off of this animal’s monstrous coat of thick skin, rebounding inches from his own face.

James soon realized how bad of an idea this really was. The large animal immediately turned its head, lowering and looking directly at James, the point of his horn headed straight for his heart.

“Remus, what the hell _is_ this thing?” James half shouted, half squealed.

“I’m pushing the button,” Remus said quickly, eager to get rid of the animal.

“Don’t you dare _touch_ that button!” James shouted, confidently.

The large, gray animal looked directly into James’ eyes. He blinked once and began to charge.

James vaguely heard Remus’ voice shouting at him to run, but he didn’t move. Not quite yet. _It’s all about the timing…”_

At the last possible second, he hopped to the side, narrowly missing the beast and skidding across the floor. He closed his eyes and concentrated with all his might. _Please work…_

He opened his eyes again. The beast was staring at him, either curious or confused; James wasn’t quite sure which.

Of course, James, himself, probably would have been just as confused as the beast, considering a man had just been replaced by a stag.

_It’s alright_ , he thought, walking slowly in a circle, but not approaching the beast. _I’m another animal – don’t hurt me…_

“You’re one lucky stag.”

James looked up at Remus and reared onto his back legs, playfully. He cantered around the room, sensing the fact that the animal was beginning to trust him. He stopped at the beast’s cage and waited patiently for him to step inside. Soon afterwards, the gate dropped, and the animal cage disappeared.

The second the beast was out of sight, James transformed into his normal self and glared up at Remus.

“I take it you didn’t know what that was…?”

James rolled his eyes. “You guessed correctly.”

“Erumpent,” Remus said, climbing leisurely down the ladder. “And you should be glad you weren’t hit with that horn of his.”

James raised an eyebrow.

“Causing things to explode,” he explained. “Whatever the horn stabs, it just – _explodes._ The end. Game over.”

“Thanks a _lot_ , Remus – I can tell how much you care for me.”

He flashed a wolfish grin, and punched three more buttons. “And now you’re gonna tell how much _more_ I care for you.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“Finally,” a first year passing in the hallway sighed. “I finished my last final.” The boy prodded his friend, grinning. “Only one more week and we’re home for the summer! I can’t _wait_ to see my snake again…”

James blinked slowly, keeping the food in his stomach down. _And one more day to live…_

“Don’t.”

James looked over at Sirius, puzzled. “Don’t what?”

“I can _totally_ tell what you’re thinking, and it’s not good.”

James smiled at his friend. “Alright.”

“Plus,” Sirius added as they began to climb several sets of stairs, “thinking isn’t good for you. It usually hurts. This is from experience,” he added, hoping to cheer James up.

“I’m sure it does,” James said, smiling slightly as they entered the Gryffindor common room.

“Oy!” Remus shouted as the pair walked inside, waving a piece of paper in the air. “For you, Prongs.”

James sighed and picked up the paper.

_Meet me in the library for homework help._

_Breanna_

“What – do we even _have_ any homework left?”

“Summer stuff,” Sirius muttered, shrugging.

“But who starts homework for the summer before school’s even _out?_ ” James nearly shouted.

“Lily does,” Sirius said quickly, glad that he had found a solution to this question.

James looked down at his feet. “Yeah,” he muttered.

“Breanna doesn’t _want_ to actually do homework, James,” Remus interrupted, sending a sharp glare at Sirius. “She just put it in the note for any other prat that might have found it.”

James groaned. “Is this another one of those damn lessons?”

Sirius pressed his hand against his chest, looking appalled. “You mean you don’t _enjoy_ those damn lessons?”

Remus snickered. “I think I pretty much ruined the entire fun aspect of the lessons yesterday.”

Sirius held a hand in front of Remus, signaling for him to stop speaking. “It doesn’t _matter._ I am _hurt_ by your ungratefulness, James.”

James rolled his eyes.

“Alright,” Remus cut in, “the other stuff we tried to help you with might not be useful at all, but you _really_ need to talk to Breanna. Trust me.”

James dropped his book bag onto Sirius’ foot with a thud and a screech. “ _Last_ lesson,” he said, looking directly at Remus.

“That’s _all_ I’m asking for,” Remus replied. “You’ll thank us later, anyway,” he added, grinning.

James attempted not to smile, but failed. “Yeah,” he agreed, wincing as Sirius toppled over the back of the large, red couch. “Get him some ice,” James said to Remus, and darted from the room.

It didn’t take James long to get to the library. Many of the crowds had dispersed, eager to relax outside in the warm drizzle of rain, or play games with friends in their houses.

He pushed open the doors to the library, and was welcomed by a silence. Traveling table to table, James was unable to locate Breanna. He began walking up and down the aisles of books, searching for her. Just as James was about to give up, he saw her studious face through a pair of books.

Hastily, James walked to the end of the row, and into the next. “Breanna, this better be good, otherwise I’m - ”

He stopped.

_She’s here._

“Hi, Lily,” he said, attempting to keep his cool. He forced a smile onto his face and walked up to the table she and Breanna were sharing. “What have you been up to all week?”

She shrugged, staring at the closed book in her lap. “Finals,” she said simply, and then stood. “I’ll see you all later.”

James watched with unease as she walked away from him for the third time that week.

“Sit,” Breanna commanded, pointing to the chair beside her.

He obeyed without comment.

Breanna placed a small, rusty, cutout photograph of Carisbrooke Castle in front of James.

She tapped it three times with her wand and a voice spoke from the picture.

“Programming: enter opening password.”

James looked at Breanna raising an eyebrow curiously. She urged him on, nodding.

He thought for several seconds, pressured into finding a password. Getting an idea from the night before, James leaned in close to the picture, and spoke clearly.

“Erumpente oHe.”

“Password programmed,” the voice spoke. “Programming: enter closing password.”

James sat in silence again, mulling the second password over. Another magical creature would be too obvious…

“Hurry _up_ ,” Breanna hissed under her breath.

“Password programmed,” the voice said.

“Damn.” Breanna sighed, glaring at James as if it were his fault. “ _Look_ at what you did.”

James laughed. “Hey – at least no one could guess a password such as ‘hurry up’,” James grinned.

“True…”

James gestured to the picture. “What is it?” he asked.

Breanna handed him her wand to use. “Say the first password.”

James tapped the paper and said clearly, “Erumpent.”

Quickly, the rusty picture unfolded, as if it were a present and spread out before James, revealing a good sized map.

“You’re _kidding_ …”

“Carisbrooke Castle,” Breanna said, rather proudly. “And special _features_ ,” she said, demonstrating how the map worked. People inside the castle are located across the map. I programmed every bit of information about secret passages, hidden tunnels, and places on every floor that I could find in old books. It’s as close as all of the books say, but there could be a few things not in books, so don’t always believe the map.

James nodded, still in awe. _How on_ earth _did she manage to make a map this detailed in a week, when it took me and three other guys over a year and a half to create a map of a place we’re already living in?_

“The best part,” she said, “is the fact that you can, in a way, ‘zoom in’, I guess.” Holding out her index finger, she tapped on the front entrance. “The gatehouse,” she said. “As you can see, there are about four people at the gate, guarding it, I’d assume.” She pressed her thumb to the paper and it zoomed out, revealing the entire map again. “Over here,” she said, pointing to open land labeled the bowling green, “I believe is where all Death Eaters are meeting.” She zoomed into the large grassy area within the castle and a name in deep red stood out to them.

“Voldemort,” he whispered, staring at the paper. It was too strange to see how _real_ everything was. Voldemort _was_ real. He’s on the paper. He has _no_ idea who was watching him at this very moment.

“I made his name red,” Breanna said softly, “so that he was easier to locate at a quick glance.”

James nodded, understanding completely. “Of course.”

“But,” she said, “I have one more thing to show you.” Again, she pressed her thumb to the map and it pulled out. She touched her finger towards a building sitting on the outskirts of the bowling green. “This part is called the keep,” she said.

James looked closely, his heart skipping a beat. He read the names in blue.

“Charles Roysen, Cecilia Roysen, Gabriella Starnmen. Wait a minute – Gabriella…?”

Breanna nodded. “She was the other Unspeakable that went missing, remember?”

“Ah…”

“Yeah, I feel pretty bad forgetting about her as well…”

James smiled slightly. He poked around the map, interested at the names he saw. “Malfoy, he’s the one that graduated our second year, right? And Avery and Dolohov…” He shook his head, blinking several times. “We went to school with them. _Them._ ”

Breanna nodded.

“Is that it?” he muttered, setting the map back onto the table. His mood had turned sour once again.

She handed him a slip of paper. “Don’t lose it.”

“Because…?”

“They’re your _directions_.”

“Oh. Right.”

“But I could always take them back if you feel like wandering aimlessly for hours.”

James shook his head and snatched the paper from her. “I’ll take them.”

“It’ll be about four to five hours,” Breanna said. “You can do a straight shot south and travel over water, or follow a road.”

He smirked, standing.

“I can swim.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“James – over here.”

Sirius groaned as James looked stupidly around the library.

“ _Prat!_ ” he shouted, hitting his forehead. James heard him.

“What – _why_ are you whispering? You never whisper in libraries.”

“I didn’t want any attention directed here,” he said, pushing James out of the library. “I really wanted to talk to you quickly.”

James raised an eyebrow, rather curious. He was shoved roughly into the same empty classroom they had occupied earlier that week during James’ “lessons.”

“What’s up?” James asked.

Sirius handed over a book to James carefully, swallowing. “I snuck into the restricted section last night.”

Curiously, James read the cover, and his jaw dropped immediately. “Sirius, I can’t.”

His friend’s face was completely serious. “It has the three unforgivable curses,” he said slowly.

James shook his head, pushing the book back into Sirius’ arms.

“James, I know you want to be the ideal ‘good guy’, but you’re stepping into territory where these people play against the rules.” He sighed, knowing he was losing the battle. “Would you at least read about them? So you’re not caught off guard…?”

James shook his head again, grateful for Sirius’ intentions. “I’m not stooping to their level.”

Sirius smiled, looking down at his feet. “You know, I’m a bit relieved to hear you say that.” He gave his friend a slap on the back, and they exited the classroom.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily woke up from her restless sleep, dread filling her body.

_It’s Saturday._

“Lily, get up.”

The redhead rolled over, surprised to find Sirius sitting beside her bed.

“I don’t suppose the fact that you’re not allowed to be in the girls dormitories stopped you from climbing the railings on the stairs again, did it?”

“Actually, I just used the window, this time.”

Lily laughed and looked quickly to the window, finding it wide open and letting a gentle breeze inside. She pulled the covers up to her shoulders after closing her eyes again. She rested in her warm bed for a few minutes more.

“Lily, I have to talk to you.”

She opened one eye. “Why does it have to be now?”

“Because you’ve been avoiding everyone the rest of the week.”

Lily didn’t speak, realizing her mistake. “Alright. What?”

“We want you to go to Carisbrooke Castle with us.”

“You _what?_ ”

Lily sat straight up in bed, eyes wide and fully awake now. “James said he didn’t want us to go.”

Sirius shrugged, leaning forward. “Well… James doesn’t _know_ we’re coming. We just want to be there in case something happens.”

“You mean we’re just going to _follow_ James?”

“Excluding Peter,” he said. “Pete’s a bit freaked out that we could be in a building with Voldemort. I don’t think he can handle it.”

Lily blinked several times, looking away. “Bella – is she going?”

Sirius nodded.

“And Breanna?”

“But of course. Her parents _are_ taken prisoner in that castle, you know.”

“What about Remus?” she asked as her last hope. “He would _never_ approve of this!”

Sirius smiled, finding her trapped. “He agreed to join us last week.”

“Last _week?_ Sirius, why didn’t you tell me about this earlier, then? I was… around…”

“But none of the expected spots,” he said quietly, referring to being on James’ side constantly.

“Things change,” she said quickly, looking down at her blanket.

“He _needs_ you, Lily. Can’t you see that? Nothing would be better than James side-by-side with you against Voldemort.”

Lily shook her head quickly and swiped at her eyes. “You four go ahead. I’m not.”

She threw herself back under her comfortable blankets, attempting to keep her sobs silent.

After several minutes of silence, Lily heard the chair scraping back to its original location and several footsteps.

The window slammed shut.

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

He checked three times for the teacup before leaving his dormitory, claiming he was hungry for more food.

“Ready?”

Peter jumped, looking to his side. “Rookwood,” he muttered. “It’s only you.”

“Who _else_ would be speaking to you?”

Peter remained silent.

“Where you going? The bathrooms?”

“I guess,” Pettigrew replied, shrugging. “Just somewhere without a lot of people.”

Rookwood threw back his head and laughed. “Buddy, you’re in for a shock.”

The small boy looked quickly at his companion, nervous. As they entered a bathroom nearest the Slytherin common room, Peter gasped at the number of people occupying the boys’ room.

“Sixteen,” Rookwood said, proudly. “There are five Slytherins and two Ravenclaws from seventh year, three Slytherins, one Ravenclaw, and one Gryffindor from our year, and two Slytherins, and one Hufflepuff from fifth year, and one Slytherin from fourth year.” He smirked again. “ _Not_ including girls.”

Peter nodded, smiling to the group.

“Eleven Fifty-Nine!” a particularly tall boy shouted to the group. Everyone pulled out their object. Peter looked around jealously. Several used a nice shoe, piece of parchment, or a small quill. _Not me_ , he thought miserably, _I get a teacup. A pink one. Great._

“Nine, eight, seven,” the tall boy shouted, “six, five, four…”

_Three, two one._

The group vanished.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“This is it,” James whispered, climbing to Astronomy tower, broom in hand. “I’m leaving.”

Bella immediately stepped forward, throwing her arms around his neck, sobbing.

“Relax, Bella,” Sirius said, smiling forcefully. “He’ll be back later.”

“I will,” James said affirmatively.

“See you in a while,” Breanna said, smiling and stealing him from Bella’s grasp. Remus shot her a glare, sticking out his hand.

“Until _tomorrow_ ,” Remus said, putting the emphasis on tomorrow. He shook his hand firmly, winking quickly. “Good luck.”

James nodded, and finally turned to his best friend. Without a word, Sirius merely smirked.

And with one last hopeful glance towards the room without Lily, James hopped onto his broom, and flew into the open air.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“So…?”

“So _what_?” Sirius asked, looking sharply at Remus.

Breanna bit her lip, hiding a smile. “Can we _go_ yet?” She laughed, covering her mouth. “I can’t wait to see my parents’ reaction when they realize their little girl broke several laws to save them.”

Bella laughed as well, wiping away the tears streaming down her face.

“Now,” Sirius cut in, taking charge, “we can’t let James see us unless _he’s_ in danger, remember? As far as he knows, he’ll be back by tomorrow with us waiting for him and no one will be suspicious in the slightest.”

Remus raised a hand slightly, frowning. “How are we going to know when he’s in danger?”

“We’ll each have a designated spot to watch for,” Sirius said, looking at each person in the room. “Breanna knows the premises best, so she can distribute spots after we arrive. From then on out, when we see James leave without a problem, we’ll contact each other some way or another,” he said, shrugging. “Sparks from your wand, flying to their location, whichever.”

Bella retrieved their brooms from behind a large chair. “What about Lily?”

Breanna nodded, looking up at Sirius. “Yeah, is she coming? You talked to her, right?”

Sirius ignored their words, stony faced. He swung his leg over the broom. “She’s not coming.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James hovered behind a large tree for a few minutes, attempting to breathe slowly and gain his confidence. “Hurry up,” he said to the map after checking it for the tenth time, sure of people’s locations. Quietly, James pocketed the small picture of the castle in his pocket.

Peeking out from behind the tree, James looked into the grounds of the castle, finding masses of Death Eaters covering the, now dark, ground. He looked straight ahead from his spot, dropping his jaw in awe at the height of the keep. _So that’s where the prisoners are being held…_

James flew low, close to the wall, nearly the entire length until he arrived on the north side, close to the keep, grateful for the darkness that hid him in the shadows.

_No unexpected visitors,_ he thought to himself. _In and out without a hitch._

Quickly, James flew vertically up the wall of the keep, and immediately in through the opening on the top, skidding to a quick stop.

_I’m in_ , he thought, leaning against the wall and closing his eyes, relieved. Cracking a smile, James stood on his feet. _That wasn’t so hard…_

But after a glance around the room, James lost his confidence once again.

_Where they hell are they?_

He pulled out his map, tapping and whispering, “Erumpent,” revealing the elaborate design he had grown to love.

Tapping with his forefinger several times, James zoomed in as close as possible.

_I’m standing_ right _on top of them!_ he thought, panicked. He paced back and forth, watching the dot labeled _James Potter_ moving around.                                                                                                                                                                    

James narrowed his eyes, stopping where he was. _Hold it…_

The blue dot, labeled _Gabriella Starnmen_ began to fade out. James heard a loud shriek from below him.

He quickly jumped, looking down at his feet. James took several steps back, and dropped to the ground, hoping to find trap door. Biting his lip, James, looked dropped the map to his side, but not without a second glance. _That wasn’t there last time…_

James quickly snatched the map up again, and looked closely. _When did those other dots show up…?_ He squinted, attempting to read the names.

“It’s _him!_ ”

James looked up, fear flooding his face.

“Quick!” The large man in black shouted to his partner from inside the passage in the wall. “ _Get him!_ ”

James swallowed.

**NEXT CHAPTER: FINALLY, we make it to Carisbrooke Castle! But I don’t think I can really say what else happens at this castle... Otherwise that would be giving some stuff away, wouldn’t it? :)**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	21. Guest of Honor

**Chapter Twenty-One: Guest of Honor**

“Let _go_ of me!” James hollered, kicking and screaming.

“Shut your mouth, or we’ll do it _for_ you, kid,” the large man said, his voice reverberating back and forth between the walls of the keep.

James kept silent. The two dark figures had each gripped onto one of his arms and held him several inches off of the ground. He fussed and turned, trying to make it as hard as possible for the Death Eaters until he was able to find an alternate route out of this mess.

“I’ll take _that_.”

James looked to his left, biting his lip as the Death Eater, who had sounded very much like a woman, stuck her hand into James’ pocket, fishing around for any items James had. She took his wand and small picture of the castle.

“Did you need a picture reference to get here?” she asked, pocketing James’ wand and holding the small picture up into the night sky, hoping for more light to see it.

James nodded, hoping to pass it off merely as a picture.

“You won’t need it anymore, then,” she muttered, throwing it into the fireplace they passed.

James merely blinked, hoping she didn’t see any of his remorse at losing the map. He was thankful they had not found his broom in the keep to take as well.

 

“Hey,” the large man said, “didn’t our Master say someone would be joining us tonight?” He grinned at James.

“Of course he did. Everyone always joins us on special occasions,” she hissed, turning towards James as well. “Most of them don’t leave.”

James looked over at the woman with her hood pulled over her face and glared sharply.

“Step,” the man interrupted, forewarning the woman before she took a tumble.

James looked away, anger taking control of him. _Relax,_ he thought to himself. _Focus on the real task._

He nodded slightly to himself and looked down the flight of stairs. His jaw dropped.

“You think there are enough steps?” James asked sarcastically.

“What did we _tell_ you, boy?”

James gave a deep sigh.

“The wife told me this morning that I’m not at a high enough status,” the man said softly.

The woman on James’ left side nodded. “Of course you could be higher. Instead of guarding, we could be out there torturing.”

“Right,” the man agreed, raising his voice. “I know if I worked at it, I could.”

“Yeah, I just don’t really care that much.”

“Me too,” the man said, nodding. “We could if we really _wanted_ to, though, right?”

“Yep,” the woman agreed. “But we’re fine at this level…”

After reaching the seventy-first step – James had counted – they made a sharp right turn, following an open path. Several Death Eaters had passed them, nodding at each other as if they were friends they’d meet on a street.

“First floor?” the man asked, and the woman quickly shook her head.

“Top,” she said. “This one’s feisty.”

James smirked. _Thank you very much._

The man opened the door to a building in the center of the courtyard. James studied every possible detail about the building as he was dragged to the top. He stared at the wooden floor, slightly gaping at the intricate designs covering the banisters.

After reaching the fifth floor, they continued walking down to the end of the hallway. James looked into each room he passed, curious. The first room was open with a plain bed and nightstand. The next two rooms were open as well, showing stone walls and flooring and a small window, covered with bars. The fourth door was closed and, James figured, locked. He cringed slightly as he heard three loud bangs on the door, and a muffled voice calling, “I _hear_ you – let me out! I _demand_ freedom!”

“Loony,” The large man muttered, shaking his head. “It’s his fourth day in there. He’s bound to leave soon,” he said conversationally.

James swallowed, figuring the large man did not mean that the prisoner would leave alive.

The next door was the last in the hallway, complete with a window, a pair of dangling chains bolted to the wall, and a rotting corpse.

“ _No_ way,” James shouted, beginning to kick and flail again. “I am _not_ staying suffocated in a room with a dead guy!” He attempted to throw his feet onto the door frame, pushing away. His plan, however, backfired, nearly resulting in two broken legs from the force exerted from both Death Eaters to get James inside of the room.

“There’s about to be two dead bodies in here. Would you prefer that?” the woman hissed, squeezing his arm.

James didn’t say another word, as they chained him to the wall, several feet above the ground, leaving it impossible for James to sit. He immediately began to smell the odor of the rotting body drift over to him.

“Makes you want to puke, doesn’t it?” the man laughed, kicking the dead body. “Don’t worry,” he said, “it’s only a few days old.”

James looked away from the body, trying to hold his stomach down.

“Here,” the woman said devilishly, lighting a torch and setting it into a slot above the dead body, casting an eerie glow across the room. “We’ll just set this _right_ above the body, so you can see it perfectly clearly.”

James didn’t look back, but was silently grateful for the light. He had, in fact, been wondering whether or not he would be spending the night in the dark dungeon with nothing but a slight glimmer of light from the moon.

“We’ll leave you two alone to _bond_.”

Immediately, James began to swing his fists in an effort to punch the Death Eaters. The only object his hand came in contact with, however, was the air. The woman stepped tantalizingly forward, inches from the lengths of his chains.

“It isn’t quite as simple as you thought this outing would be, is it? This whole _rescuing_ thing just isn’t your cup of tea; I don’t believe you have it down yet,” she hissed. The woman grinned fully, revealing a mouth with half the normal number of teeth.

Anger rose quickly into James’ face. Taking a stab out of the blue, unsure of his chances, he wrapped his hands tightly around the two chains. Sizing up his target, he jumped high into the air, kicking the woman square in the chest. With an echoing thud, the woman was sent flying through the air, landing sprawled on the ground. The man rushed to her side, but a barbaric-like bearing of her teeth kept him a good distance away.

James felt his breath catch in his throat as it began to speed up. He was unable to predict his outcome. For all he knew, he was seconds from death and without a single prayer.

His eyes widened. The woman rose, ungracefully, to her feet. “You,” she shouted, “will _pay._ ” Raising her head slightly, she spat onto his shoes and stomped out of the room, muttering faintly, “The Dark Lord shall have his time with the boy soon…”

The door slammed shut behind the two Death Eaters.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“That’s it, right there,” Breanna pointed, grinning. She took in a long, deep breath, exhaling all of her nerves and worries, slightly breathless at what they were all just about to do. “This is it…”

Sirius nodded, solemn faced. “Follow me,” he commanded. “Fly low.”

The three stayed on his tail, mere feet behind Sirius. He took a sharp turn and led them around the tall wall surrounding the castle courtyard. As they approached the next turn, Sirius slowed and stopped, landing beside his friends on the ground.

“Southeast corner,” Breanna said, pointing out their location. “Bella, you watch the north side of the castle – try not to go too far west, otherwise the Death Eaters stationed at the gatehouse will most definitely see you. Also, James is, supposedly, in the keep on the north side, so you will most likely be the one able to alert all of us of his status. Sirius,” Breanna addressed, “you’re the northeast corner. If you look above the wall, you’ll be able to see the bowling green, which is where most of the Death Eaters are congregated. Keep an eye on them and mention any suspicious activities to us. Remus, you will - ”

“ _Wingardium Leviosa!_ ”

The four students immediately felt themselves being lifted high above the ground.

A very tall man held his wand up high in front of him, obviously the one who had shouted the spell.

“I _told_ you!” a squeaky voice behind the man shouted, jumping up and down in a long, black robe, trailing several feet on the ground behind him. “I _told_ you I saw people on brooms!”

The tall man nodded, as if annoyed by the squeaky pest. “I saw them too. Otherwise I wouldn’t have come out here.”

The squeaky man made a noise of displeasure. He soon proceeded to lift his robes just over his feet, walking back to the gatehouse with his nose held high into the air and an attitude of arrogance.

“Well,” the tall man started, “you all are just _kids_. Why on earth would you four be out here on a night like this?” He began walking towards the entrance, leaving their brooms behind. “I’m sure it isn’t a coincidence, is it?”

Bella shook her head. “No, no,” she said, “we live a few miles back there. We were just flying around for a bit after dinner,” she lied smoothly, adding a sweet smile.

“Any other night,” the man muttered, floating them through the entryway and down a dusty path inside the courtyard. “Had you said that to me any other night but this one, I just _might_ have believed you.”

Breanna swallowed, looking quickly at Remus.

“You lot were trespassing on private property,” the man said, stepping inside a tall building. “This deserves punishment.”

As the tall man stood before an open door, he waved his wand, causing the group to be thrown roughly into a spacious room that they all figured to be a jail cell.

“We were just _flying!_ ” Bella shouted, one last time.

He turned on his heel, giving Bella a small shred of hope, but soon waved his wand, shouting, “ _Accio!_ ” sending all four of their wands to his hand before the door slammed, leaving them in solid darkness

A voice cleared, whispering hoarsely, “Is everyone alright?” It was Breanna.

“I’m here,” Sirius said quietly, reaching out for where Breanna was, finding her hand. He held it tight. “Bella?”

“Present,” she sighed, walking to the only source of light: the small window. “That certainly didn’t go as planned…” She looked around the room and found Sirius and Breanna as they fell into a small patch of moonlight, as well. “Where’s Remus?”

The three waited, hoping for a voice, but heard nothing. “Remus?” Sirius called, louder. He dropped to his hands and knees, feeling around in the darkness. He rolled his eyes at himself, beginning to think clearly. _Dogs have better night vision…_

Sirius quickly transformed into a large, black dog, getting used to the light, or lack thereof. He noticed Bella’s look of astonishment – the very same adorable tremor she wore every time he transformed into a dog – and smiled slightly, noticing her attempt to hide it not so discreetly.

Sirius looked at the spot where they had been thrown into the room. Sirius found Remus, slack against the wall, clearly unconscious. He changed back into his human self and ran directly to his side.

He froze as he felt his knee drop into something very wet and very cold.

Sirius was kneeling in a pool of blood.

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

“Master.”

Peter looked over to see a tall man quickly walking over. He passed Peter and bowed deeply before Voldemort.

“Four people were found lurking around the back, as you said they would be,” he said, looking down at Voldemort’s feet, and holding out four wands in his hand. “First floor, first door.”

“Right on schedule,” he spoke, grinning maliciously. “Lock the wands away with the other,” he said to the tall man, looking around the small circle that was slowly forming before him.

Rookwood stared directly at Voldemort, taking in all of the features he had heard of in awe and fear. It was the face that haunted most wizards’ dreams. His face, which had mighty wizards trembling in their shoes, was dark under his hood, a permanent shadow settled across it. His glowing, red eyes seemed to take in everything around him. Rookwood braved a glance towards Voldemort’s eyes and was cowed by the power shining through. His smile was anything but warm; there had never been a time when Rookwood had seen a warm smile on his master’s face. Nothing but evil etched into each line of his face.

Proud to be in his company, Rookwood jutted out his chest, attempting to attract his master’s attention.

As Voldemort stepped further into the circle, he walked towards Rookwood. _Pick me, Master,_ he thought desperately, trying to conceal his grin. _Choose me – I will help._

Voldemort stopped and pointed, signaling to Peter, obviously loving to play with him. _No!_ Rookwood felt himself crumble. _He is no help!_ I _can help!_

“Deliver a message to your dear _friends_ from me,” Voldemort spoke quietly, to Peter, standing tall.

Peter swallowed hard, attempting to remain calm. _They’d recognize me – don’t make me!_ he pleaded silently. “Yes, Master,” he said, nodding his head. Peter hesitantly approached Lord Voldemort, looking down at his feet.

“I want you to tell the girl that her parents – for the moment – are safe and sound. If they create chaos, the situation _will_ change.” He laughed, amused at the game he was playing with the children. “It’s a little teaser for them, you could say. To keep them in check.”

“My Lord,” Peter said, raising his head slightly, and then looking back down to his feet. “I thought your intention was to kill them all in the end.”

Voldemort laughed loudly.

“I don’t believe I told you to tell them that piece of information.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Remus!” Breanna shouted frantically, trying to wake him from his slumber.

“He’s unconscious,” Sirius muttered, remaining calm for the time being. He cleared his mind of any doubts or fears for his wounded friend, and instead searched for his wrist in the dark, strategically positioning his fingers. “He has a pulse.”

Bella took charge of the situation. “Move him into that little bit of light,” she commanded, directing them towards a spot beside the door with a dim light from the window.

Breanna blinked furiously. _No more crying_ , she demanded of herself, clenching her hands together in a death grip. _Too many tears have been wasted when I could have helped. I’m_ strong. _Not weak._

“Take his feet,” Sirius said solemnly to Bella, dragging him into the light. Immediately, their vision of Remus was better, revealing a long gash at the back of his head.

Quickly, Breanna whipped off her Hogwarts uniform from over her normal clothes. She ripped off a sleeve and balled the rest of the uniform up, laying it underneath his head.

Sniffing bravely, she held the sleeve of her robe to the cut atop Remus’ head, stroking his cheek lovingly. “Stay with us, Remus,” she prayed.

“He probably hit his head on the wall when we were thrown in,” Sirius said quietly, attempting to rid themselves of an awkward silence. He focused intently and changed back into a dog, running to the spot where they had found Remus, observing the remains.

“What is it, Sirius?” Bella asked, hearing sniffing from a dog.

After a few seconds, Sirius spoke. “Not a lot of blood. All we can really do, right now, is wait for him to wake up.”

Breanna swiped viciously at her eyes, keeping tears off of her face.

“I think the bleeding stopped,” Breanna said, acting much braver than she felt. “It shouldn’t, hopefully, be too long until he wakes up. That is, assuming all he received was a minor blow to the head.” She pulled the bloody cloth away tentatively. Slowly, Breanna held her hand up, flexing it. Pieces of dried blood splattered across her hand dropped in flakes to the floor. Her glazed-eyed expression did not register the gruesomeness of the situation, leaving her to turn back to Remus “Wake up,” she whispered softly.

Sirius reached out to his left for Bella, sensing her shock at the fatal situation, and grabbed her hand, pulling her close. “We’ll find a way out,” he said. “I promise.”

“We never should have _come_ ,” Bella whispered logically, digging her head into Sirius’ chest. Her voice came out muffled. “We should have told Dumbledore where the meetings were taking place. _He_ would have known exactly what to do, and we wouldn’t have come in as amateurs. We didn’t know what we were really getting into…”

“Dumbledore would have given us a speech on jumping to conclusions again.” He replied, shrugging. He had run out of ideas.

Bella nodded.

“Our main worry right now is getting out alive,” Sirius said. “And we are _not_ going to play a what-if or a we-should-have game.”

Sirius felt Bella raise her head, obviously looking for something. “We could try sneaking out. But, of course,” she sighed, deflating immediately, “the windows happen to have bars over them to expel that thought quickly. But I think that the number of wandering Death Eaters in the courtyard is getting lower and lower. Our chance of getting out while their meeting is taking place is greater.”

“But,” Sirius interrupted, “we still need to get our wands and the three Unspeakables.”

 “We could always try leaving with _out_ our wands. Those can be bought again,” she said reasonably. “Our only hope, then, is that our brooms are still lying out of the castle, assuming that man forgot about them.”

“All of which,” Sirius agreed, “the outcome in unpredictable.”

Sirius watched as Breanna got to her feet in the small moon beam, approaching the pair in a fury. “And _how_ are you both thinking we’ll even get out of here with Remus unconscious and bleeding on the floor, my parents locked up – assuming they’re still _alive_ –, and without any source of magic? Are you going to try _wandless_ magic, but yet, still leave quietly?” Sirius heard several stomps of frustration, and then Breanna spoke again. “You’re _insane!_ There’s no chance!” she cried.

The door flung open, revealing a short man in the doorway.

Sirius shielded his eyes from the bright light, looking away and holding a hand up to his face. Breanna turned, facing the figure bravely.

“What?” she demanded, eyes blazing.

“Message,” he said simply in, what they thought was, a strained voice. He cleared it, looking in Breanna’s direction. “For you.”

Breanna crossed her arms, glaring at the Death Eater. “From Voldemort, I assume?”

He nodded, twitching compulsively.

Breanna blinked, attempting to act unfazed by the news. “Why does he want to tell _me_ something? No,” she corrected, shaking herself from the small daze she was in. “Why doesn’t he come here him _self_. Is he not _man_ enough?” she shouted, taking a step closer to the figure. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she hissed, “It’s about my parents, isn’t it?”

“Breanna,” Bella warned, her eyes darting back and forth between Breanna and the man in the doorway. “Be careful,” she whispered, bringing a hand nervously to her mouth.

The man continued, ignoring Breanna’s aggression towards him. “The Dark Lord asked me to - ”

He dropped to the ground.

The group was silent. “Uh – excuse me…?” Breanna looked back at the two behind her, confused. “Sir…?” She bit her lip and faced Bella in confusion. “Am I supposed to _wake_ him…?”

“Would you be _quiet?_ ”

Breanna’s eyes widened. She spun back to the door, face alight as a silhouette stepped into the light, cringing. “Remus?” she whispered softly, almost worried that if she were to speak to loudly, he would have vanished before her eyes.

The sandy haired boy smiled in pain. He held up his right shoe. “Never assume magic is the only thing that can get you out of tight situations.”

Sirius laughed heartily. “You knocked the bastard out!” he shouted, grinning. “Smart thinking, buddy.”

“And nice timing…” Bella muttered to herself, placing a hand over her thudding heart. She laughed, taking a shuddering breath, attempting to hide her fear at the previous situation.

“My little hero,” Breanna giggled, wrapping her arms around Remus’ neck and kissing his cheek.

“Ah,” he gasped, touching the back of his head gingerly. “I might be a hero, but I still have one hell of a headache.”

Breanna laughed, grinning at him.

“If I may interrupt this little powwow,” Bella said, stepping forward, “I want to point out to everyone that the door is _wide_ open, there are no Death Eaters standing in our way, and we _really_ can’t afford to lose any more time.”

Breanna nodded, agreeing. “Let’s go,” she said, leading the group out of the door.

Sirius held up a finger, kneeling onto the floor. “Wait a minute,” he called, reaching for the hood of the Death Eater sprawled on the floor.

“No,” Bella whispered urgently, grabbing his hand. She pulled him, running for the door. “There’s no _time_!”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“Dammit,” James swore, letting his head drop to his chest in defeat. His legs were becoming very weak, about to drop out from underneath him from standing for such a long period of time. He had twisted and turned, trying as hard as he could to get out anyway he thought possible. For several minutes, he even tried willing his hand to be smaller, just so that it could slide out of the cuffs, but there was no use.

He had spent the entire time staring to the right of him, avoiding the sight of the dead body. His neck was beginning to grow sore.

Angrily, James kicked at the wall behind him, furious at the situation he had gotten himself into. _I just_ had _to piss them off…_

He leaned against the wall, resigning to his fate. He hung his hands limply, high in the air several inches above his head. A huge gust of wind blew in through the small opening in the wall above the body. He let out a soft gasp as the torch flickered and died, plunging him into complete darkness.

James began to cough severely as the wind carried the smell of the dead body to his nose.

“Great,” he muttered. “This is just _wonderful._ ” _My life doesn’t get much better than this, does it?_ James thought sarcastically. _Miserable, alone, and inches from a gruesome death at the hands of Voldemort._ He let out another choking noise at the smell. _And a dead roommate. Spectacular._

Holding his breath, James turned to the window, hoping for a source of light. The sun had long since disappeared, leaving the entire courtyard black. Every now and then he would hear a soft murmur of voices. If he squinted his eyes, he could just barely make out an outline of a Death Eater. It was, now, rather obvious why they chose to wear black.

After several minutes of watching the grounds, James noticed something odd. There was a Death Eater standing mere feet away from the building James was locked in. He watched the dark figure curiously as the Death Eater stared directly up at the room James was in.

He swallowed, and bravely opened his mouth. “Hey!” he shouted, pulling at his hands once again. The chains began to rattle. “Hey, you! Let me out!”

Obviously, James knew that demanding to be let out would not _actually_ work, but if the Death Eater was baited and chose to speak to him, he might be able to change his current future outcome. _Or at least speed up the process of my death – I really have nothing to lose anymore…_

James continued watching the Death Eater curiously as he continued staring up at James’ window. The figure did nothing. “Hey!” he shouted again daringly, after several minutes of silence.

He felt his muscles beginning to cry out in pain. James was stretching his neck too far to the side in order to look out the window. He leaned his head back against the wall, relaxing.

Taking another deep breath, James shook his head, waking himself up from his slight slumber. He twisted his body around again, looking out the window.

Troubled, James squinted, but saw nothing.

There was a soft pop behind him, and James turned back to the door before him, fearful. He swallowed, realizing the Death Eater had apparated just on the other side of the door. He hadn’t really thought that Death Eater would actually want to talk to him! What would he _say_?

_Nothing to say,_ he thought, attempting to fool himself into believing he actually felt brave. _I’d kick the shit out of him._

“Get in here!” James shouted, hoping his fear wasn’t noticeable in his voice.

The large door creaked open and a figure stepped inside. Panicked, James wrapped his hands around the chains as he had done earlier, now as a precaution.

“Hey, buddy, get me out of these chains,” he tried, hoping to get the man closer to him. James felt himself smile slightly in victory as the figure closed the door behind him and stepped forward, ignoring the fumes from the corpse on the floor.

“James.”

_A woman._ James froze, curious. His hands released the grip he had held on the chains, allowing his arms to go slack. Slowly, James’ arms stopped swinging, silencing the soft clanging of the chains. His smile had disappeared from view, now, replaced with a look of fear. “Yeah?” he questioned, taken aback by her knowledge of who he was.

The woman stepped into the moonlight slowly, taking each of her steps one at a time. Without a bit of hesitation, she reached up to her hood and pulled it down, staring directly into James’ curious eyes.

No one could have mistaken the eyes.

No one could have mistaken the hair.

No one could have prepared James for this moment.

“ _Lily_.”

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

“It’s _left_ ,” Remus said, pointing to the door. “Don’t you remember which way he went when we came in?”

“Yes!” Sirius shouted. “He went right, so we’ll go right!”

Remus blinked and shook his head, looking at Bella. “And you’re _dating_ him?”

She rolled her eyes, following Breanna out the door and stepping into the dirt path.

“Which way to the gatehouse?” Bella asked as they stood in the doorway.

“Can’t really see,” Breanna muttered to herself, squinting into the darkness. The two girls stepped forward. “I think it’s just over there, though…”

A red beam of light shot past the two girls. Both heads turned to their left in surprise, horror fleeting across their face.

“They’ve _escaped!_ ” a deep voice shouted, sending another spell towards them. Remus ducked back into the small alcove. He stuck out his arm, keeping Sirius tucked inside with him.

“What is it?” Sirius hissed, looking strangely at Remus. Several figures ran by, kicking up dust. Holding in any noises, Remus buried his face into his own cloak, shielding himself from the dirt.

The two girls immediately began running away from the Death Eaters, hoping to find cover quickly.

“Bella!” Sirius shouted, finally conscious of the situation at hand. He pushed at Remus, about to take off, chasing after the Death Eaters, but was quickly detained.

“Stop,” Remus said firmly, holding him back by the collar of his shirt. “They’ll be fine. They can easily outrun him.” He gestured to the Death Eater’s large stomach and short legs. “You can’t save them without getting into trouble yourself.”

Sirius grunted, succumbing to the fact that Remus, once again, was right. “Then what now?”

“Ah,” Remus nodded with a smile. He pulled him in the opposite direction of the new found chaos.

“Where are we going?” Sirius asked, slightly nervous without the protection of his wand. “We don’t have a chance fighting anyone else, if it wasn’t those blokes back there,” he shouted frantically, jabbing to the large men in the opposite direction. “We are _screwed_ , Remus, completely - ”

“First of all,” Remus interrupted, holding a hand firmly over Sirius’ mouth, “you had better learn to trust yourself without the help of magic. Relax, think things through. We’ll be _fine_ ,” he convinced him softly, carefully removing his hand. “You can’t always rely on one help – use you _brain_.”

Sirius swallowed, following Remus like an obedient puppy. “I was brought up in a house with magic,” he hissed, quietly this time. “How the hell am I supposed to just forget all of that?”

“I didn’t say to _forget_ it.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, scuffing his shoe into the path. “Remus, your fortune cookie speeches are getting very old _very_ \- ”

Remus stopped in his tracks, wide-eyed. “Hide!” he hissed urgently, shoving Sirius to the side and into a thick mass of shrubs. The hit had taken Sirius completely by surprise. He was unable to show any grace whatsoever, leaving him to fall through the mess of twigs and leaves, hitting the ground face first. Sirius lay sprawled onto his stomach.

He narrowed his eyes as his friend jumped, cat-like, into the bushes, landing very delicately on the tips of his toes.

Groaning under his breath, Sirius rolled onto his back and clutched at his stomach. “Nice,” he muttered, managing to pull himself up into a sitting position. “If you try that move again, I’m going to - ”

“Would you rather have been sent back to that cell?” Proving a point, Remus held open a small hole in the bushes, allowing Sirius to watch as a hunched Death Eater, trudged past slowly.

“Be glad he wasn’t paying any attention. Otherwise, you would’ve been a goner without me.” Remus allowed the branches to swing closed as he crossed his arms smugly.

Sirius brushed off his pants grumpily. He took a deep breath, wincing slightly as a pain briefly shot through his insides. “So, where are we going, genius?”

Remus stood and pointed to the tallest building, barely visible through the darkness. “The keep,” he said, “to see if we can still help Breanna’s parents.”

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“Hi, James.”

James was motionless.

Lily looked down at her hands clenched together. Slowly, she took a small step forward.

“You stay _back._ ”

Lily looked up, fear in her eyes. Swallowing, she dropped her head, sadly. “I know,” she whispered, just loud enough for them both to hear her words. “I was horrible last week; it was awful of me to just turn my back on you.”

“And is _this_ why you told me no? Because you knew I’d never approve?” James asked, backed against the wall. The familiar stench floated to James, but he made no effort to avoid it. _Funny,_ he thought to himself miserably, _that smell doesn’t seem to bother me much anymore…_

Lily looked a bit puzzled. “This what?” she asked, seeming to miss something.

James looked thunderstruck. “Lily! You’re a – you’re not bothered that I _know_?”

She blinked, clearly confused. “By what?”

James looked like he was about to pull out his hair. “You’re a _Death Eater!_ ”

She covered her mouth, hiding a smile.

“James, have you ever heard of a disguise?”

Immediately, James’ entire body went slack against the stone wall behind him, relieved from these words. “Lily, you knew how much my family is against the Dark Arts. You shouldn’t have let me even think you were a Death Eater for a split second…”

“I never _tried_ to trick you!” Lily dropped her smile and bit her lip. “But if I were actually a Death Eater,” she started, wondering if she should even touch the topic, “would you have turned me in?”

James kept his head down, his face turning a brilliant shade of red. “No.”

Lily blushed as well, glad that he was looking away. Hurriedly, Lily pulled out her wand and began attempting to break the locks on the chains keeping him in.

“So,” James said quickly, attempting to ignore the fact that Lily was mere inches from his face. “How’d you get here?”

“Ah…” Lily held up her wand rather guiltily. “You see, I’ve been studying _apparition_ for the past year…”

“Oh, have you received your license already?” James asked, trying to make a pleasant conversation.

Slowly, but surely, Lily shook her head.

James raised an eyebrow. He was unable to make up his mind about Lily; on the one hand, he was shocked the she would ever have gone against the Ministry’s laws, but on the other hand, James was very impressed at her sharp learning skills. “Lily, you could have _splinched_ yourself trying to save me.”

“I’ve been studying for months,” Lily muttered modestly. “Plus,” she added at once, “I was also here to help the others.”

“Whoa,” James panicked, shaking his head as if he had not heard correctly. “ _Others_? What on earth are you talking about?”

Lily smirked, dropping her wand to her side and taking a step backwards. “James, you and Sirius aren’t friends just because you both love pranks – you guys love playing the hero. He couldn’t just sit by, letting you walk to your grave.”

“Where are they?” he asked. James began to sweat profusely as his face lost its’ color. _It’s my entire fault if anything happens to them…_ “Wouldn’t they have shown up now?”

She shrugged, sending another charm to the chains above his head. “I would have assumed the same thing.”

James’ eyes widened. “You mean they could be stuck in one of these cells _too_?”

Lily shrugged, backing away slightly, shocked by the sudden outburst. “For all we know, they’re rescuing the prisoners right now! Don’t panic – that’s the _very_ last thing we want to do,” she said calmly, touching his shoulder reassuringly.

James nodded, looking directly at the door across from him. _Too close_ , he thought, swallowing. _She’s way too close for comfort…_

An awkward silence followed, causing James to cough in the opposite direction of where Lily stood several times as she sent many different charms at the cuffs on his wrist. After several minutes, Lily shouted, slamming her fist into the wall.

“I have _no_ idea what kind of charms they put on this lock!” she shouted, eyes blazing. Taking one final chance, she stepped into a firm stance. “Step aside,” she commanded sharply.

James did as he was told, stepping to the side of the wall, standing at an odd angle

“ _Adventum!_ ” A blue light shot out of her wand. James gazed up at the bright light as it hit the spot where the long chain and the wall were connected causing the entire chain to fall out of the wall in one piece, connecting James’ two hands together.

“Great,” he muttered, holding his wrist out in front of him, dangling the long chain from underneath. “From above my head to below.”

Lily glared at him. “Be glad you’re even out.”

He sighed, nodding. “Could you cut the extra chain off, at least, so I could move my arms a bit more?”

Lily shook her head. “If we’re planning on walking out, you should at least make it look like you’re still a prisoner, right?”

James shrugged. “I guess.” He walked to the door and stood there without looking back. “Are you coming?”

Lily swallowed, staring adamantly at her hands. She began wringing them out of a nervous habit. “James, you do know I’m sorry, right?”

“Course,” he said without hesitation. Scratching his head awkwardly, James spoke. “Are we going to get out of here or not?”

“No,” she cut in, “I mean I’m _really_ sorry. I never meant to hurt you at all.”

He nodded. “I know you didn’t. We’re still friends. It’s fine.”

Lily shook her head, attempting to get direct eye contact with James. “No,” she said firmly. “I don’t want to be friends – at least – not _just_ friends…”

James felt a smile creep onto his face, finding everything at the moment too good to be true. He turned, walking back to where Lily stood. He took her small hands into his chained ones. “Lily, this really - ”

“And I had a _really_ stupid reason for walking out on you,” she added, saying it all very quickly. “It was selfish.”

“It’s alright, but - ”

“I’ve felt so strongly towards you for several months,” she whispered energetically, her green eyes shining with tears. She stepped closer, grasping onto his hands as if it were her last hope. “I was worried you would disappear as soon as you showed up in my life, and I just can’t afford to lose anyone else I really _care_ about.”

“Lily, I - ”

“I love you, too,” she whispered desperately, holding his hand up to her face as a comfort. “I _love_ you.”

James grinned. Slowly, he ran his thumb across her smooth cheek and into her hair. “I couldn’t be more thrilled,” he said softly, leaning into a passionate kiss. It seared through Lily’s body and soul, hitting each and every nerve with an earth-shattering bang. _Finally,_ she could hear herself think, _a kiss we both want at the same time._ Lily wrapped her arms around James’ neck, smiling into the exhilarating kiss.

After pulling away, Lily looked down. Slightly abashed, she immediately began to wring her hands as she had done before, but stopped. _Why are you worried?_ Lily asked herself. _It’s James – there’s absolutely nothing to be afraid of with him._ Nodding affirmatively to herself, Lily grinned, swallowing and pushing all of her fears out of the window. She stood her ground, gazing lovingly into James’ face as she reached for his hand again. “That was one hell of a kiss, Potter.”

James nodded stupidly with a goofy grin on his face. He inhaled deeply, trying to catch his breath. “Right – of course – yes.” He shook his head, holding out his arm. “Shall we?”

Lily pulled up her hood, held out her wand, and took a hold of his arm, acting as if he were a prisoner.

She opened the door, but they were stopped by a cloaked man standing before them.

“Excuse me,” the voice from underneath a large, black cloak interrupted, “were you going somewhere?”

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

“Get up!”

Peter’s eyes shot open. He felt a sharp kick delivered to his side.

“Knock it off,” he groaned, rolling over. He grabbed at his stomach, looking up at the attacker.

“What the hell are you doing?” the familiar voice shouted, his wand hanging in the air.

“What?” Peter asked, rubbing his head. “What am I doing on the floor…?”

“You let them get _away_!”

“Rookwood, what are you going on about?” Peter questioned, sitting up. He felt the blood rush to his head, pounding.

Rookwood looked astonished. He stared incredulously at Peter for a few more seconds, debating how his mind actually worked, and then pointed into the dark room behind him. It all came back to him immediately.

Peter twisted around on the floor, searching desperately for his four friends – _prisoners._ _Not good_ , he thought, blinking several times, hoping for this all to be a dream. _Very, very bad – they escaped. Oh, man, I’m in trouble…_

“Damn…”

“That’s _right,_ ” Rookwood shouted, making several hand gestures at the small boy. “They’re gone and we don’t know where the hell they went to!” He crossed his arms, smirking evilly. “You do know that you have to tell the Dark Lord now, don’t you?”

Peter swallowed, reaching up to touch his throat. He winced, imagining his fate.

“Serves you right for taking _my_ job,” he muttered sourly. “ _I_ was supposed to deliver the message, not you.” Rookwood looked at the squirming figure on the floor, narrowing his eyes. “You didn’t even deliver the message, did you?”

“I didn’t take your job,” he whispered softly, surprised he was even speaking back right now. “Voldemort picked me – _I_ didn’t volunteer.”

“Who the hell cares,” Rookwood cut in. “You still took it when it was rightfully _mine._ ” The tall boy paused and crossed his arms, thinking back to his previous question. “Did you deliver the message or _not_ , Pettigrew?”

Peter coughed uncomfortably, running a hand through his hair.

“Ha!” Rookwood shouted, grinning. “I feel sorry for you, Pettigrew.” He shook his head. “I’ve been sent to bring Potter to the Dark Lord.” Proudly, Rookwood raised his head triumphantly. “He must have been saving Potter for me, because of the challenge he knew you couldn’t handle.”

Peter nodded without arguing. He crawled to his feet.

“You better talk to the Dark Lord,” Rookwood hissed, reminding him, again, of his doom.

“Yeah,” Peter muttered, readjusting his robes slowly. “I’m going…”

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

Lily panicked, feeling herself clench at James’ arm. She cleared her throat and bowed her head low, sure to keep her face covered. “To the Dark Lord,” she said in a disguised voice.

“Now _you’re_ taking my job?”

Lily looked subtly from James to the Death Eater, confused. “I – what? I assure you,” she said, attempting to act confident, “I do not intend to take your job.”

“Well, you’re doing a good job of trying to get up on his list,” he muttered, grabbing James’ other arm, and holding out his wand, threateningly.

“No,” Lily said, beginning to feel her red-head temper rise, “I am just taking him to the Dark Lord as he told me,” she said solemnly, pulling James away from the hooded man.

“He told _me_ to bring him,” the Death Eater said back dangerously, pulling on James’ arm. “I will _not_ be looked down upon.”

“But,” Lily interrupted, pulling back, “seeing as I’m already here, I’ll just take him my _self_.” She began to walk off down the hallway with James in tow.

James looked at Lily, shaking his head frantically. Lily ignored him. Her fear had long since subsided. She felt free of worry. The only thing she wanted now was James, and she wouldn’t let anyone stand in her way.

“Why are you so _persistent_?” the dark figure asked, raising his voice higher and higher. He took several steps forward, blocking off her escape. “You’re challenging me,” he hissed menacingly, “and I have yet to figure out why. But,” he assured, “I will.”

Lily swallowed and stepped to the side, attempting to move around him. She dug her nails into James’ skin. “Look here, buddy, I will _not -_ ”

“I don’t know _who_ you think I am,” he said firmly, clearly shouting at the top of his voice, “but I don’t think you _realize_ who you’re messing with!” He held up a hand defiantly, and slapped her through the hood of the cloak.

Lily froze. She felt the sting on her cheek, but made no point of attracting any attention to it.

“ _I_ will take him,” the cloaked man said calmly, knowing that he had defeated her.

He grabbed James’ elbow for the third time and dragged him, unwillingly, down the hallway. With a helpless look, James mouthed, _I’m fine._

Lily watched, fear beginning to re-enter her body; she had been floating on air minutes before. After the arrival of the Death Eater, Lily felt as if she were invincible; nothing could hurt her, now. She hadn’t felt threatened by the man at all, and lost any and all nerves she ever had before today.

As the two boys disappeared around the corner, Lily broke out into a cold sweat, realizing just what she had done. _I stood up against a_ Death _Eater and let him walk off with James…_

In a rage of fury and a surge of new-found strength, Lily waved her wand and disappeared in a pop.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Are we there _yet?_ ”

“Sirius, no whining. I told you that before we started to climb these steps.”

“I _never_ agreed – did you _once_ here me say I wouldn’t complain! That’s just not in my _nature_!”

Remus rolled his eyes.

The two sprinted from shadow to shadow, lurking in the darkness, consisting of two detours and three close calls.

Remus and Sirius skidded to a halt at the bottom of a long staircase. Both of their jaws dropped at the number of steps there was to climb.

Remus was the first to recover from the shock. “Here’s the plan,” he said through several gasps as they began running up the stairs, hugging close to the wall. “Look for James and Death Eaters.”

“Check,” Sirius muttered, hoping James had _already_ gotten in and out safely.

“Then,” Remus continued, peering over the courtyard below them, “if James is not there,” he muttered quickly, trying to brush off the horrible situation, “we’ll try to get the prisoners and let them out.”

“And our escape route is…?”

“See that balcony coming out of the top, there?”

Sirius stopped, looking up into the darkness. He found a stone wall and followed it, realizing it went the entire perimeter of the castle.

“If we’re able to get on there and go off to the left, we’ll make it to the gatehouse, but the main challenge is Death Eaters guarding this wall. We’ll speak to Breanna’s parents or something to figure out if they have any better ideas. Technically, they _have_ been here longer,” Remus muttered. “They might know the landscape better than us.”

“Oh, is that _all_ we need to be worried about?” Sirius sighed, slapping a hand to his forehead. He quickly wiped off the perspiration dripping onto the back of his neck. “We’re screwed.”

“Hush,” Remus said sharply as they approached the keep.

The two boys slowed their ascent, ducking low. Remus reached the top step cautiously, glancing from left to right for other visitors. “It’s clear,” he said to Sirius, still in a whisper.

Tiptoeing delicately, Remus and Sirius hurried across the floor, entering an open space. Remus was thankful the sun had set, leaving no lights to find them.

“Mr. Roysen?” Remus called into the darkness. “Mrs. Roysen?”

Sirius waited, frozen to the spot. No voice called back. He slowly stood from his crouching position and walked into the center of the open room. “Mrs. Starnmen?”

No answer.

“I swear; this is where Breanna _said_ they were supposed to be – didn’t she?” Sirius looked in the general direction, finding Remus with his ear pressed against the wall. “She said the keep, right? Or maybe she said - ”

“ _Quiet._ ”

Sirius closed his mouth, hoping to hear what Remus seemed to be hearing. _Trees,_ he found himself listing as he heard the sounds, _birds, other footsteps…_

“Remus,” Sirius interrupted, panic covering his face. “Remus – I hear footsteps.”

“No, no,” Remus corrected, “they don’t _sound_ like footsteps. They rather sound like vibrations, as if someone is talking…”

“Look, there’s someone _coming_!” Sirius pulled him away from the wall so that he could hear the clicking of a pair of shoes heading their direction. “I don’t know _what_ it is you heard, but we have _got_ to get out of here!”

“We can’t!” Remus hissed, slipping out of Sirius’ grip. “They’re here, I can hear them!” He examined the wall that he was standing at, pushing at it and feeling for corners. “Their voices are coming from behind this wall. There is some sort of hollow space back here…”

Sirius quickly jumped beside his friend, helping out as well. _If we can get inside, we can escape the footsteps…_

“Dammit,” Remus hissed kicking at the wall. “There has to be _some_ sort of way to get inside.”

Sirius began shoving his shoulder into the wall, hoping to budge it. “Maybe they password protected the door.”

“Unlikely,” Remus grunted, moving further down the wall. “This castle was built by Muggles, so there shouldn’t be any password doors at all!” He rolled up his fist and pounded at the wall with every word, becoming very frustrated. “Stupid – secret – _door_!”

“I agree,” Sirius muttered, dropping on his hands and knees. He focused intently, willing himself to become big and hairy, yet again. Black fur sprouted from his skin with a mere tickle, and he felt a long tail protruding from his backside. Eagerly, he pounced at the base of the door, smelling around for a track.

_Give me any little smell,_ he begged, sniffing at the floor. He stopped at a familiar scent, pausing. _Remus,_ he thought, ticking his name off the list. _I need an unfamiliar scent. Give me anything…_ Sirius found himself circling the entire room at a fast run. He slowed at another scent.

_James._

Sirius ignored the scent and continued, focusing on the task at hand. _Come on…_ Sirius begged, _Perfume would be a nice giveaway…_

It wasn’t until Sirius was nearly face to face with Remus, where he begun, that Sirius found it.

_It’s them!_ he rejoiced, wagging his tail. He backed up, sizing up the stone wall, and with a pounce, he jumped full force into the wall.

_It moved!_

Remus immediately jumped into action as well, helping Sirius at the location he had found. It took a few pushes, but the door finally opened with a solid thud.

Sirius was the first down the steps with Remus quickly on his heels. They were both in awe at the size of the place they had just found. The stairs had taken an immediate turn, circling around the outer rim of the room, all the way to, what Remus assumed, was the basement.

Sirius, the dog, stayed in the lead, panting. He was growing dizzy at the speed he was traveling. Already, Sirius had traveled around the tight circle four times, while Remus was still on his second.

_Light!_ Sirius thought, letting out a series of barks, echoing in the tall room. He looked quickly over his shoulder and saw Remus closing in on them as well. While in motion, Sirius shifted back into his human form, not caring to explain to any others why he was an unregistered Animagi.

“Mr. Roysen!” Sirius shouted, running into the open room. He grinned at the sight of the missing Ministry members, but stopped short, very confused. “What happened?”

Remus had now skidded to a halt behind Sirius and looked upon the scene with unmasked horror.

The circular room revealed a single fire pit in the center of the floor, burning brightly. The light filled the room with an eerie glow, casting odd shadows and strange shapes. Surrounding the pit were five wooden pillars nearly twice their size, presumably used during the 1600’s. Tied to the pillars were the three Ministry workers, two of the three with limp figures.

“They’re gone.” Charles Roysen’s voice cracked. “Gabriella Starnmen,” he whispered in gasps. “My _wife_.” He choked on a dry sob.

“They’re dead.”

Sirius dug his hands into her pocket. He quickly found what he was looking for and pulled out the object: a small pocket knife. Sirius wasted no time and walked to Mr. Roysen’s side, cutting off the ropes wrapped around his body.

Remus approached the two women’s lifeless forms and checked for their pulses. “What happened?”

“The Death Eaters were sent to kill each of us on the hour. Gabriella was killed at eight. Cecilia at ten – just a little while ago.” Mr. Roysen took a deep, shuddering breath. “My time is at midnight.”

Sirius managed to saw through a thick line of rope, hugging the man to the pole. As it cut loose, the majority of ropes fell to his feet, leaving the rope behind his back. Sirius sawed away.

“Why?” Remus asked, stepping forward. He placed a gentle hand on Mr. Roysen’s shoulder and examined his head, looking for cuts or bruises. “Why do they _have_ you locked up here?”

A loud thud echoed throughout the room.

A look of horror attached itself to Mr. Roysen’s face. He swallowed. “They’re _back._ ”

“Hide!” Remus hissed to Sirius, frantically. “They can’t find us, again!”

Sirius dove behind the pole adjacent to Mr. Roysen’s and then realized his mistake.

_The ropes,_ he thought miserably.

“What are you _doing_?” Remus whispered as Sirius jumped back into sight, reaching for the ropes.

“They’ll know we’re here!” Sirius immediately began to wrap the rope hurriedly around Mr. Roysen’s body, hoping not to get caught by the intruder. Holding his breath, Sirius had wrapped until two loose ends were left. Quickly, he tied them together into a sloppy knot. _At least it should hold for the time being…_

Without any time left, Sirius spun in his spot, directly behind the pole of Mr. Roysen. He closed his eyes and attempted to stop his chest from taking in heaving gulps of air. _Don’t find me,_ he prayed, swallowing loudly.

There were three final steps as the intruder paused. There was a small shuffle and then a voice. “Mr. Roysen?”

The man behind Sirius gasped in delight. “Lily, darling!”

Both Sirius and Remus stepped out from their spots, dumbstruck. “Lily, what are _you_ doing here?” Sirius shouted. “You told me you weren’t coming!”

She shrugged and walked swiftly to Mr. Roysen’s side. “I found an alternate ride.”

Sirius shook his head, smiling. He went back to work, cutting off Mr. Roysen’s ropes.

“Who on earth _are_ you boys, anyway?” he asked, sounding slightly confused at the moment.

“They’re my friends from school,” Lily explained. “The boy behind you is Sirius Black, one of our good friends.”

Sirius stepped out and grinned briefly.

“And this,” Lily continued, pointing to the blushing boy, “is Remus Lupin, Breanna’s new-found love.”

Mr. Roysen did a double take. “Boyfriend, eh?”

Remus nodded, swallowing.

“Mr. Lupin,” he said. “Considering you are risking your life to save me, you must be a great guy.” He smiled weakly. “She chose well.”

“Thank you, sir,” Remus nodded, glad the awkward situation had passed.

“Call me Charles,” he said in a deep voice.

“Of course,” Remus said softly, scratching the back of his neck.

“Done!” Sirius exclaimed, proud that he had remembered to bring along his trusty pocket knife.

“Thank you,” Mr. Roysen said, grateful of the bind they had gotten him out of. He rotated his wrists and massaged them, hoping to get rid of the red, rope burn.

“Should we…?” Sirius pointed to the other two bodies, wondering whether or not he should cut them down.

“No,” Mr. Roysen sharply cut in, dropping his hands solemnly to his side. “What we need to do right now is get out _alive._ If we’re able to, we can send a Ministry official back to retrieve them later.”

Lily nodded and turned towards the stairs. “But we have to help James,” she said.

“How do you know where he is?”

Sirius cut in. “I know he’s in at least some sort of trouble – I smelled him upstairs.”

Remus nodded without any explanation to Mr. Roysen whatsoever. But this didn’t keep him from asking questions.

“Hold it,” the adult interrupted. “Back up – who is James?”

“Best friend,” Sirius explained. “He’s the one Voldemort wants.”

Mr. Roysen looked troubled. “But he – not _him_ …”

Lily stepped off of the stairs with an apprehensive look on her face and approached her best friend’s father. “What is it?”

His eyes filling with dread, Mr. Roysen shook his head slowly.

“He’s not the one they want…”

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

“Master.”

Peter dropped to his knees, bowing down. He was tempted to kiss his master’s shoes.

“What is it, boy?” Voldemort hissed, sounding very similar to a snake.

Peter pulled himself to his feet again, fearing the words about to come out of his mouth. “Master, I have failed you.”

The tall man looked down without speaking. Peter took this as a sign to continue.

“Upon reaching the prisoner’s chambers, I was knocked unconscious and unable to deliver the message to the girl.”

Voldemort’s eyes narrowed even closer than they were already.

“The four escaped.”

It was now that Peter could see his master grow upset. He walked across the circle and gestured to the group of Death Eaters. “Four prisoners have escaped due to a stupid _mistake_ ,” Voldemort explained loudly. “You are to find them – bring them _alive._ ”

Six Death Eaters walked off, bowing to their master as they left.

“Now,” The Dark Lord said softly, turning to face Peter, “what are we going to do to fix this problem so that it never happens again?”

The small boy swallowed. He began to lower himself to the ground but Voldemort interrupted him.

“ _Stand_!” he hollered, approaching his victim.

Peter froze. He felt like he was about to cry.

In a flash, Voldemort’s hand shot out of his cloak and locked itself around Peter’s neck, choking him in a death grip. “Will it happen again?” Voldemort shouted in a raspy voice.

Unable to breathe, Peter shook his head desperately. _Can’t – breathe…_

“My Lord.”

Voldemort dropped Peter to the ground and looked up for the source of the sound, allowing the rat to crawl away.

It was Rookwood, followed closely by a struggling black-haired boy.

_Perfect…_

Rookwood had, apparently, levitated the chains high above James’ head, as if he were still hanging from the wall. His feet were dangling several inches off of the ground.

“Get the hell away from me!” James shouted, pulling at his chains, attempting to swing in the opposite direction.

“He’s a bit feisty,” Rookwood said quietly to the Dark Lord. Maneuvering James into the center 


	22. The Second Threat

**Author's Note:** **Two chapters left after this one!**

**Chapter Twenty-Two: The Second Threat**

“This way!”

Bella saw that they were advancing toward a small wall with an opening the size of a door, barely visible in the night.

Breanna snatched Bella’s wrist and pulled her towards the large opening. They continued running until Breanna whispered in a sharp intake of breath, “To the right!”

Bella did not question her whatsoever. She knew that Breanna was the one person who knew the layout of the castle better than most. The tunnels and secret passages were unlimited, but many were yet to be discovered.

“Through – the window,” Breanna gasped as they plowed on. She pointed to a location where a window once stood, but immediately ducked as a spell nearly hit her ear.

“They’re getting away!” a voice behind them shouted angrily. “We can’t let them escape – they’re just _kids!_ ”

_I turned seventeen six months ago,_ Bella thought irritably. _I am considered an adult, thank you very much…_

“Take the steps,” Breanna interrupted. She hurried Bella up a few steps and then directly back down. Bella found herself staring up at the long staircase to the keep.

“We’re going _up_? Are you _insane_?” Bella hissed, raising her voice ever so slightly.

Breanna shook her head and reached for the large tapestry draping over the wall. She pulled back a corner and slid her hand across the stone behind it.

“Are we looking for something?”

“There is a passage,” Breanna said quickly, “directly behind the tapestry. It is a tunnel that circles the castle wall.” She continued feeling around for any opening she could find. “I know you’re here…”

Bella peeked out from behind the tapestry timidly. She squinted, looking for cloaked figures. _Please don’t find us…_ she pleaded frantically, crossing her fingers.

She scanned the yard once more. Bella ended, finding a large figure galloping strangely to her right, down the steps. The Death Eater held their side and groaned in pain. Frightened at the sudden arrival, Bella squeaked and backed into the wall. She felt something behind her make a solid _thunk_.

Breanna froze at the sound. “What was that?”

Bella spun, staring at the wall. It was no longer solid. In fact, there was a long, thin crack in the wall.

“Quick,” Breanna hissed, hearing the sound of rapid footsteps behind them. She shoved at the door and pushed Bella inside and followed her, squeezing through the small crack the door had to offer.

But to Breanna’s surprise, the moment she stepped inside, she, in fact, stepped on nothing at all. There was no floor beneath her.

Breanna screamed.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

“ _Crucio!_ ”

James pulled his legs up to his chest, as if it were helping the pain. He clutched desperately to the chains above his head and bit deep into his lip.

Voldemort’s wand lifted, allowing James to sigh in relief. _The pain is over,_ he thought with a sharp, but uncomfortable, tingle running up his spine. James allowed his legs to drop down, still several inches from the ground. He licked his lips and swallowed the salty taste of blood.

“You can see,” Voldemort stated clearly. “Why else would you be here today?”

James dropped his head, refusing to answer.

“I sent a vision and was hoping to have a chat with you sooner or later.” Voldemort fingered his wand as a slow, merciless smile spread across his face. “I leave you with three choices.”

James did not like the sound of where their “chat” was going.

“Number one,” the Dark Lord said, stepping closer to James, “you tell me how you gained the sight. Number two,” he stated, walking even closer, “you join me without any recollection of your previous life and will remain as a walking zombie in my possession.” Voldemort took the final step, piercing James with a ferocious stare. “Or you may die.” He smirked. “Your choice.”

Several figures shifted uncomfortably in the corner of James’ eye. He felt no remorse for them whatsoever. _Cowards…_

Bravely, James raised his head and defiantly shook it with a sharp no.

“No?” Voldemort asked, verifying the answer. He moved away, rejoining the circle surrounding James. He spun and drew out his wand, shouting, “ _Intrinsecus Segmentum!_ ”

James could not hold in his scream. His insides felt as if they were shredding to pieces, pulling himself apart. He longed to reach for his stomach and soothe the pain, but found that he could not move.

“You do not beg for mercy!” Voldemort shouted over James’ yells. Abruptly, he pulled away his wand.

James fell silent. His eyes followed every move of the Dark Lord’s wand, hoping to anticipate his next move.

“It’s new,” Voldemort spoke conversationally. “Did you like it?”

“Why do you want me?” James shouted, looking much more powerful than he felt. “I can’t help you!”

“But you can, dear boy.” Voldemort grinned. “I know that you have the sight.”

James attempted to shrug casually, but was restrained by the chains holding his arms into the air. “It’s in my blood,” he said simply, acting as if he were brushing this fact off. “There is no way that I can transfer it to anyone other than my children.”

Voldemort threw back his head and laughed. His evil cackles quickly disappeared without a trace, escaping into the starry night. “Don’t be silly,” Voldemort interrupted. “I know what they did.”

James raised an eyebrow, honestly confused. “What who did?” He shook his head, confounded by the strange outcomes of the night. “I was born with the ability to see while I dream. It’s nothing I was given as a _present_.” Sighing, James continued. “I can’t just hand it over, like you said.”

The Dark Lord paused. James grew curious, wishing he could know what Voldemort was thinking. But by the looks of it, he would have said they were both as confused as the other.

Voldemort raised his wand rapidly and drew a swift slicing motion in the air. Without a chance to prepare himself, James fell onto the ground, feeling the levitation spell being lifted off of him. He heard a metal clanking noise and felt the chains around his wrist drop into his lap.

James had just begun to massage his aching shoulders and wrists from the strain of hanging in the air for so long, just as Voldemort sent two men to his side, dragging him through the dirt by his arms.

“It’s to the old quarters for you,” the man on his right grunted.

With an inward groan, James allowed himself to be pulled across the grounds to his new cell. _I got out once – do they think I won’t find a way out again?_

The same building that James had been locked inside previously loomed into sight. However, to his surprise (and relief), the men did not stop there. They approached the building beside James’ cell and entered.

They slowed to a stop and the men on James’ left fumbled with his pocket. There was a soft clinking sound, very similar to that of metal against metal. James assumed the noise to be a set of keys, apparently a set to open whatever door they had stopped at.

_Where on earth are we…?_

James was taken aback as they began to move again, but it wasn’t for long.

“Sit,” one of the men commanded. They picked James up and dropped him onto a wooden bench in the middle of an empty room. Four torches lit the corners, casting light onto each of the bare walls and revealing no windows whatsoever.

The two men sped back to the door and turned towards James, obviously guarding the door for any unexpected intruders. It was then that he realized these men were nearly twice the size and weight of James.

_Ah,_ James thought miserably, _this is their plan to avoid any escapes on my part._ James applauded Voldemort for the thought of a guarded cell in his head.

_I’ve got no chance._

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

After a few feet down, Breanna felt her hit a sloped, stone rock. Without a chance to regain any balance or to open her eyes, she went sliding to the bottom of the wet rock, a good thirty feet down.

It took Breanna several moments to realize she had stopped, lying on her back in a very shallow puddle. Nervously, she opened her eyes and was met with an unpleasant darkness.

“Bella…?” Breanna groaned slightly as she felt the water sink uncomfortably through her school uniform.

“Breanna!”

“Where are you?” Breanna crawled onto her hands and knees, inching slowly toward the voice. She held her hands out in front of her so as not to run into the slimy walls.

“I’m over here,” Bella whispered. “Follow my – _Breanna!_ ” Bella gasped as a hand hit her leg, but soon sighed, relieved.

“It’s me,” Breanna soothed, linking her arm through Bella’s. They leaned against the wall, catching their breath.

“Well,” Bella muttered, “I don’t think we’re going back the way we came…”

“Our best bet is to just keep walking straight. It should lead directly to the gatehouse and, hopefully, to an exit.”

Breanna could feel the doubt in her friend’s voice as she spoke. “ _Hopefully?_ What do you mean _hopefully?_ ”

“Well… It’s been known for the people who built this castle to build many passages, as you know.”

“Yes…” Bella muttered, her stomach sinking.

“However, they’re not exactly known for making the passages simple…”

“ _Breanna!_ ”

“It’s our only chance!” Breanna retorted, tempted to make a face at Bella, but soon realized that Bella would not be able to see.

“Fine,” Bella gave in. She reached to her long hair and squeezed out the water that clung to her blonde curls and quickly threw it up into a ponytail. “But I am _not_ leaving my hair down anymore. The minute I get home, I’m chopping it all off. This is just _gross._ We don’t even know what’s _in_ that water…”

Breanna did the same as Bella, disgusted by the fact that there was a puddle of who-knows-what at the bottom of the long slide.

“My clothes are wet,” Bella complained, as they felt their way through the darkness. “I nearly broke my leg on the fall down, I am _freezing_ from being soaked and underground in the middle of the night, and we are _so_ dead when Dumbledore figures out what we did.”

“Stop thinking of the negative,” Breanna said quietly, afraid that they could still be heard. “Start thinking of the good things that may happen. You’ll be able to cut your hair and get a new look, we could catch Death Eaters, and Dumbledore might even _applaud_ us for rescuing my parents!”

Bella did not speak for several minutes. “But what if we don’t make it?” she asked. “Do you think anyone will ever find us down here? Or what if we make it and no one else does. What then?”

“Stop,” Breanna commanded firmly. “I already said that we won’t think of the negative, Bella. We can’t afford to - ”

They had both walked directly into a solid wall.

“Oy!” Bella shouted, annoyed. “Who had the bright idea to put a wall _here_?”

“This must be where we turn…”

“Turn?” Bella felt herself being pulled to her left.

“We have nowhere else to go!”

Bella groaned, upset at the maze they had encountered. The girls walked for, what seemed like, several miles. It wasn’t until Breanna stopped in her tracks that they took any break.

“Look!” she whispered. “There’s something up there – I can _see_ it!”

Bella squinted and then nodded, taken aback. “It’s a light of some sort…”

The girls walked swiftly towards the light and soon realized it was not a light at all.

“A ghost!” Bella shouted, beginning to run. Twice, she slipped, but both times, Bella was able to regain her balance.

“Hey!” she called, excited to find someone other than them inside the maze.

“Yes?”

“Princess Elizabeth!” Bella grinned. “Breanna, look, it’s Princess Elizabeth – she died here several hundred years ago!”

Breanna reached the source of the light, breathing heavily. Frowning, she nodded her head towards the young lady. She couldn’t have been much older than fifteen. “How do you do?”

“Horribly _dreadful._ People keep moving into my home!” she shrieked, flopping her long, blonde hair over the shoulder of her nightgown. “You should see the things they do…”

“It’s awful,” Bella answered. “But we’re trying to leave. Those men brought us here by force,” she continued eagerly. “We’ve been trying to leave, and thought we might be able to get out through here but we seem to have lost our way.” Bella crossed her fingers behind her back.

The ghost narrowed her eyes and floated down to eye level. And with a simple flick of her hand, she answered, “Of course.”

“Really?” Bella looked over at an uneasy Breanna, grinning. “Could you help us out?”

Princess Elizabeth pointed down a long path, her finger glowing. “To the end of this path. Take a left and then the first right. There should be a set of stairs leading out of the castle.”

Bella giggled, unable to control her excitement.

“That was the same path my father took, you know. To escape,” she clarified, wistfully drifting into an old memory. “He was caught all three times.”

Bella swallowed. “Well,” she said hurriedly, interrupting the long silence, “we’ll just be off now. Thank you again, Princess Elizabeth!”

The Princess waved her small, delicate fingers, smiling forcefully. She floated up through the ceiling.

“You heard her,” Bella said quietly, once again growing accustomed to the darkness. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Wait,” Breanna whispered, following Bella cautiously, “didn’t that seem a bit odd?”

“What was there to be odd about it? She hates the Death Eaters. She wants them to leave!”

“But do you honestly think she would just give us instructions out?” Breanna shivered. “You even said not to trust the ghosts that live here, because they could be working against us.”

Breanna felt her friend shrug as they plowed on. “She was nice enough, though, wasn’t she? I trust her.”

“Bella, that’s because you love history. You would do anything to be closer with history!” Breanna yanked on Bella’s arm, pulling them to a stop. “We can’t trust someone we just met.”

“If it leads to a dead end, we’ll turn around, alright?” Bella continued walking, ignoring Breanna’s protests to stop.

“I don’t _trust_ her, Bella. There was something there I just didn’t like…”

Bella sighed as they made their way through the passages. They reached the steps.

“Bad idea,” Breanna said for the last time. “I honestly think this is a bad choice – she wanted us to go here, but _not_ to get out of the castle, Bella.” She pushed Bella into the wall, stopping her from going any further. “I don’t believe she ran into us by _accident_.”

“Look,” Bella hissed, pointing a finger into Breanna’s face, “we have _no_ other choice! Let’s just try this and see what happens!”

And before Breanna could stop her, Bella ran to the top of the steps. Above her were two, large, wooden doors, lying just over the exit, side by side. With a forceful shove, Bella pushed aside the two doors and climbed out into the night.

“Bella!”

Breanna scrambled up behind her, following her friend. As she drew nearer to the top, the image of her muddy clothes came slowly into view and the thought that she had left her cloak back in their cell, unable to cover herself from the cold, harsh wind she was about to meet.

But that wasn’t all they met. Princess Elizabeth grinned smugly and waved her fingers just as a large group of Death Eaters approached them.

“Oh, shit.”

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

The red-head pushed the group of three up the steps. “We need to go _now_ to help James!” Lily shouted, panicked. “I left him back at the tower several minutes ago – who knows what the Dark Lord may be doing to him now…”

Sirius perked up at this news as they circled the steps. “The Dark Lord already sent for him? Are you _sure_?”

Lily nodded and kicked her speed up a notch. “Long story, but James was walking to the bowling green the minute I left.”

Mr. Roysen inserted his thoughts. “With kicking, screaming, and a good struggle,” he said softly, “it takes ten minutes from the keep to the bowling green.”

Lily nodded, estimating James’ possible arrival time. “About the same,” she nodded, swallowing nervously.

Remus shushed the group with a cutting motion of his hand, and poked his head out of the door in the wall. He closed his eyes and focused on his hearing. _No one coming…_ “Let’s go.”

Mr. Roysen pointed to the set down and said, “Death Eaters walk past every three minutes.”Sirius’ eyes widened as he turned to Remus. “You mean we could have been _seen_ earlier?”

Remus brushed him off, waving a hand. “What’s done is done. Mr. Roysen, which way should we go?”

The father cleared his throat and blinked several times, obviously trying to get used to everything that was happening so abruptly. His pale face seemed to have twice the number of wrinkles it once had. “The only other way is to walk along the balcony.”

“Right,” Lily nodded, pulling them off to the right. She pulled up her hood, shielding her features. Quickly, she dug into her robe and pulled out her wand, holding it to her side. Lily’s hand twitched nervously.

“What are you planning on doing?” Sirius asked, raising an eyebrow curiously.

“Stay a bit behind me,” Lily advised, speaking softly out of the corner of her mouth. “I can fool them into believing I’m a Death Eater, so I’ll be able to walk down the steps without any suspicions.”

Remus nodded. He motioned to Sirius and Mr. Roysen, telling them to duck low, close to the wall.

They crouched in silence for several minutes before Lily whispered, “This is it. I’ll go down the steps. If I don’t come back up for you, I want you to turn back and head toward the keep, I’ll meet you there.”

The three kneeling boys nodded without a word.

They walked another few yards and Lily held a hand out discreetly, telling them to stop. She walked down the steps.

“Evening,” a deep, booming voice said.

Lily scanned the large group at the base of the stairs. _Nine,_ she thought to her self, feeling her knees weaken under the stares around her. Bravely, Lily nodded back to the Death Eater on the bottom right who had spoken to her, and abruptly refocused her eyes onto the road ahead.

“Heading towards the meeting?” the same voice asked. “I heard he’s got someone.”

“Ay,” a girlish voice agreed. “Goes by the name of James Potter.” Lily could see yellow teeth from underneath the hood. “I helped track down the Potters several years ago, I did.”

Lily attempted to block out the talk that surrounded her, merely nodding. She reached the bottom step with a shaky foot, sighing with relief. _The keep,_ she reminded herself. _I need to get back to the keep._

“Wait a minute,” a voice beside her said, hitting Lily’s arm. The man pointed to the top of the steps, squinting. “There’s someone _up_ there…”

Lily grasped her wand tightly in her right hand as a group of Death Eaters walked quickly up the stairs.

And with an earth shattering yell, the man shouted, “They _escaped!_ Get them!”

It took no second thoughts for Lily to immediately begin shooting any spell she could have ever learned. “ _Stupefy!_ ” she shouted. “ _Engorgio! Expeliarmus!_ ”

Cloaked men spun in confusion, eyeing Lily in fear. She watched as one man froze, dropping to the ground as if he had passed out. Another began to inflate, eyes wide in panic. “Hey!” the man shouted as arms and legs began flailing as he began to slowly roll away. “Help – someone _help_!”

Lily’s final spell had been dodged by the third Death Eater; the woman that had tracked down the Potter’s house. Without a moment to waste, the woman, too, began firing spells at Lily.

“Get ‘em!” a voice at the top of the steps shouted. Lily recognized it as Sirius’ voice. She glanced quickly behind the lady with whom she was battling and groaned. Sirius, along with the other two, had been unable to get away. Currently, Sirius was floating in the air, Remus had a Gripping Charm put onto his arm so that the Death Eater was able to easily pull him down the steps, and Mr. Roysen was simply under the full body-bind, clearly unresponsive.

“Protego!” Lily shouted, sending a nasty jelly-legs jinx back to the woman. The small woman, however, did not see this coming and was struck. She grasped for any support she could find, unable to stop her dancing.

“Ha!” Lily grinned, and turned, finding her next victim. She felt the rush of dueling come back to her; it had been so long since she had battled against James Potter.

But her exhilaration was cut short. She was immediately caught from behind.

“Got’cha,” a voice whispered harshly, snatching her right hand. He wrung her arm around behind her and plied the wand from her grip, beaming. “The Dark Lord will be proud to see that we have a _new_ little friend to play with…”

“Let _go_ of me!” Lily shrieked, pulling at her arms. The more she began to tug, the further back the man would pull her arms behind her. Soon, two other Death Eaters had arrived, helping to carry Lily away.

After several minutes of shouting and screaming, Lily slowly began to give up. She looked miserably to her right. Remus was continuing to fight the Death Eaters with every muscle he had in his body. He was, in fact, doing pretty well for himself. His werewolf strength had required four Death Eaters to keep him under control, one for each appendage.

In front of her, Lily could see two men holding Mr. Roysen on his side, still frozen. The father’s face peeked out from beside one of the Death Eaters. His eyes stared back at her, but she could not stand the sadness that filled him.

Looking to her left, Lily hoped to find Sirius just as motivated as Remus, struggling as much as possible. But he had simply given up, most likely long before Lily had. She had never seen Sirius so quiet or still. His head was drooped onto his chest, weakly. Lily knew that he had seen her watching him, but Sirius made no movement to acknowledge her in any way.

_Sirius,_ Lily cried out to him desperately, _I’m sorry! It’s my fault…_ Lily felt her eyes begin to well up.

But as soon as she was about to turn away from Sirius, Lily saw his face turn slowly towards her. Sirius’ frown dropped, replaced when a secret smile, one that only Lily could see. And with a quick nod, he winked and turned back to staring at the ground.

Lily understood. Hiding her smile, Lily felt herself swell with a sense of hope.

_We’re not finished yet…_

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Breanna was frozen to the spot. She heard one word from her pale companion.

“Oops.”

“Exactly,” Breanna agreed, staring into the faces of many different Death Eaters.

“I guess,” Bella muttered, as if the arrival of these cloaked followers were only a small hitch in their plan, “this can only lead to one thing.”

Breanna nodded, eyeing the group as they stepped closer. “Now?”

Bella took a deep breath and sighed. “Better than never…”

Immediately, both girls took off in a flash, tearing past the outer most edges of the tight semi-circle; one girl on the left and the other to the right.

_I can’t believe we listened to that horrible ghost_ , Breanna grumbled, her adrenaline beginning to kick in for the second time that night. She skidded around corners and jumped through bushes, each time landing daintily on her feet.

Breanna ducked as curses narrowly missed her head. But the further she ran, the softer the voices came that were chasing her. _I can outrun them!_ she thought, pushing herself to the maximum.

With a quick glance over her shoulder, Breanna was unable to see any Death Eaters and took her chance to dive into the nearest building.

She hadn’t even had time to recognize which building she was entering. For all Breanna knew, she could have been entering a Death Eater _hangout_ and wouldn’t have know it.

Thankfully, of course, she had not walked in on several skulking Death Eaters. In fact, it looked, nearly, quite the opposite. The room was filled with torches and candles, casting light into each and every corner of the room. Bright, golden banners embellished the pureness of the room; it was as if nothing could touch her in here.

Above her were large, wooden beams that ran horizontally across the ceiling, supporting the roof. Several windows lined walls between long, flowing drapes that fell elegantly to the stone floor. She dropped her eyes to the back of the wall and felt her jaw drop automatically. Pushed against the wall was a table holding many different items made of gold, including plates, goblets, and knives.

_The Great Hall,_ Breanna realized, astounded at the many differences between this room and the one in Hogwarts’.

Walking between two long sets of tables, Breanna gasped, taking in the paintings on the wall. She recognized none of the portraits or landscapes, but it was enough to make her momentarily forget her true reason for being in this room in the first place.

Shaking her head, Breanna gathered herself together and darted behind a red curtain, trying holding her breath so as not to breathe in any of the thick layer of dust held behind it.

_Ten minutes_ , Breanna thought to herself, counting silently in her head. _Just stay for ten minutes until the coast is clear._

Breanna had not even made it to the number “thirty” before she heard, with a start, the door slam open and several pairs of feet clunk dully across the floor.

_Don’t make a sound,_ Breanna commanded of herself, closing her eyes in fear.

The room was quiet for several seconds, followed by a loud _crash._

Breanna did not move, merely swallowed. She could feel several wands at work, lifting the tables in the room and throwing them against the walls, looking for her. With a painful _clang_ , Breanna cringed as she heard the table of finely polished gold silverware crashed to the floor.

_All that beauty,_ Breanna mourned, biting her lip, _broken._ And with a horrible image, Breanna thought, _Imagine all of the paintings…_

Still silent, Breanna did not move, hoping the Death Eaters would give up on her. And for a minute, she almost believed that they had. She heard several footsteps heading towards the exit.

With a jolt of surprise, a raspy voice shouted loudly, “ _Flabrorum!_ ” Without warning, Breanna felt her dusty drape smack her roughly in the face and then proceed to fly past her, hanging in the air. But her drape was not the only one to be pulled away; in fact, all curtains seemed to be floating and facing the same direction as if wind had blown them all aside.

Looking back towards the door, Breanna swallowed as the Death Eaters grinned out of the corners of their mouths.

“You tried your best, little girl,” the raspy-voiced Death Eater said. “But it wasn’t enough.”

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella split as fast as she could possible, cursing her late night snacks in the kitchen. _It all comes back to bite you in the bum,_ she thought, ignoring her aching side.

“Don’t let them get away again!” someone shouted from behind Bella.

“We’ll see about that,” Bella muttered under her breath as she ran as far in the opposite direction of Breanna as possible, wishing she had Breanna’s ability to run.

Bella had no idea where it was she was planning on going. She didn’t even have any idea where she had started off to begin with. _Bloody ghost,_ Bella cursed. _I can’t believe I listened to that ghost! I_ knew _she was bad news all along – I should have listened to Breanna…_

As her feet began to thud into soft, wet grass, Bella found it harder and harder to travel as fast as she had on the dirt path. Panicked, she threw a glance behind her and realized it was nearly twice as bad for the many Death Eaters that seemed to have several more years on their bodies than Bella.

Smirking slightly to herself, Bella turned back forward.

_It’s getting darker…_

The torches that helped to light up the paths had disappeared and it was growing harder to see where Bella was going. She was running blindly without any knowledge of where she was.

Nearly as soon as Bella realized it was too dark to see her own two hands, she ran straight into a hard, solid object, level with her waist. Unable to steady herself, Bella flipped over the obstacle and landed sprawled onto a mound of dirt, face first.

_No time to run,_ Bella realized as the thudding footsteps closed in on her.

She quickly crawled back to the block that had stopped her and leaned against the back of it, pulling her legs close to her chest.

_Don’t find me_ , Bella pleaded frantically, feeling her heart speed up dramatically.

With her head buried between her legs, Bella prayed for a miracle. It wasn’t until she began breathing again that she realized the entire group of Death Eaters had already passed, thinking she had continued on.

She held in her sigh and gripped onto the stone behind her, pulling herself to her feet. Curiously, Bella looked back at the stone, attempting to figure out what exactly she had tripped over.

Brushing dirt off from her clothes, Bella’s eyes widened as she read the top three letters, RIP. She slowly looked around the yard and found this was not the only grave marker around. In fact, to her shock, it was an entire graveyard accompanied with a small chapel several yards away.

_How ironic,_ Bella smirked, running back in the direction that she had come from. _My life was saved by some dead guy’s tomb stone…_

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“Where are you _taking_ me?” Breanna screamed, kicking her feet into the air. Seconds after taking her into the care of the Death Eaters, they soon realized she would not be an easy hostage. The largest man there picked her up easily and threw her over his shoulder as if she were a bag of potatoes.

“You’ll find out soon enough,” the Death Eater behind the large man yawned. He dropped his wand and scratched his head. “When are we going home?”

The other Death Eater, rather thin, had joined the conversation in, what sounded like, a very bad mood. “If you did _not_ wish to obey his orders, you should have reconsidered joining in the first place!”

Breanna rolled her hands into fists and began to pound repeatedly on the back of the Death Eater who was carrying her. “Put me _down!_ I can _walk_ , you know!”

“ _Adligo_ ,” the tired man before her said lazily, swooshing his wand through the air in a messy circle. Immediately, Breanna felt her two forearms stick together, unable to pull them apart. She attempted to continue pounding on the large Death Eater but found it nearly impossible in her new condition.

“Now you think of it…” the thin man muttered, looking away with his nose slightly stuck into the air.

“Hey,” the tired man interrupted, not sounding tired at all anymore, “you had the opportunity to do the same thing – why didn’t _you_ do it, huh?”

Breanna rolled her eyes as the two men began to argue. If she had been walking on her own feet, she might have used this as her chance to escape, but found no hope of getting away while she was seven feet into the air.

“Knock it off,” the man holding Breanna finally said. “We’re almost there.”

Not only had the two men stopped their bickering, Breanna felt her stomach squirm uncomfortably. She remembered why she was here in the first place and paled.

_What’s going to happen to me…?_

After several more steps, Breanna felt like she was about to puke. _I’m done,_ she thought. _I’m finished with this horrible nightmare – someone wake me up!_

A scratchy voice interrupted the silence.

“Drop her with the others.”

Breanna’s eyes widened. She looked as far left and right as she could and began to see several men in cloaks. As the arguing men that had been walking with them took the empty spots, Breanna figured out that she was now on the inside of a circle of Death Eaters.

Roughly, she was thrown to the ground, arms still bound together by an invisible tie. She felt two hands catch her before she rolled back any further. Surprised, Breanna spun and was immediately filled with relief. Remus smiled quickly at her, gently touching her back in comfort. Sitting beside him was Sirius, watching each of the Death Eaters carefully with a look of intent frustration.  Behind the two boys, Lily had rolled into a small ball and was beginning to rock back and forth, very nervous.

Breanna turned back to the front and found, to her astonishment, her dad kneeling with his head bowed before Voldemort. _Dad!_ she shouted in her mind, hiding her grin. He slowly looked up from his position and toward his daughter. Breanna felt her smile drop as she realized what it was he was communicating to her.

_Mum’s not here…_

Holding in her tears, Breanna swallowed. _At least Bella and James were able to escape somehow…_

“It wasn’t the boy,” Voldemort hissed, pulling out his wand and holding it to Mr. Roysen’s throat. “Now _why_ would you lead me to believe it was him?”

Mr. Roysen did not speak, but kept his ground.

“You told me they could break into my mind,” Voldemort whispered menacingly. The Death Eaters in the circle leaned in slightly, hoping to hear more. “Every night, Potter was able to attack my thoughts. But yet he knows nothing of you.”

“I did not tell you it was him,” Mr. Roysen said calmly. “I told you nothing of who it was. _You_ made an assumption.”

Voldemort did not blink, focusing all of his energy on the balding man before him. “So there are two?”

Mr. Roysen did not say a word.

“James Potter is not the only person I should be worried about, should I?” Voldemort straightened up, raising several inches. He pushed his wand further into Mr. Roysen’s throat threateningly. “Am I _correct_?”

Slowly, Mr. Roysen nodded.

Voldemort laughed, stepping away from the man. “We seem to be getting somewhere!” He looked back towards Breanna’s father and lowered his voice.

“Who is it, Roysen?”

Mr. Roysen brought a hand to his head and sighed. “Last year,” he began, “my wife, our coworker, and I began to experiment with potions for Legilimency. The ability to read minds, of course, for any who - ”

“ _Must_ we take the long road?” Voldemort interrupted, smirking. “I believe I have all of the background information, considering I’m the one that - ”

“It’s for anyone who didn’t know what happened,” Mr. Roysen interrupted bravely. He looked up, directly into the Dark Lord’s glowing, red eyes. “You can kill me now and never figure out who it is, or allow me to tell my story.”

Voldemort fought a laugh, amused at the man’s bargaining system. “By all means,” he said softly. “ _Continue_.”

Mr. Roysen looked pointedly at the four Hogwarts attendees, huddled together on the ground. “My wife, my colleague, and I were searching for a potion you could simply take to ensure your ability to read minds without having to go through grueling amounts of training. We hoped to use the potion as an assistant to Aurors so that they might be able to read minds for a length of five hours or so while on duty.

“We experimented with many different potions in order to find the exact blend.” He sighed, speaking very slowly. “After nine years, we finally found a potion we were sure of, but to be sure of our concoction, we needed to find a test subject.”

The group of students focused on the man’s every word.

“However,” he added, “if the person that was tested _knew_ they were a specimen, the entire project would be ruined since the specimen could easily trick themselves into believing they were able to read minds. On the other hand, if you did _not_ know you had the ability to read minds, everything they would guess from your mind was accurate.”

Mr. Roysen took a deep breath. “The other downside of using a knowledgeable test subject,” he muttered, glaring at the back of the Dark Lord’s cloak, “would be word travel. The person could accidentally – or purposefully – leak the information to the wrong people, landing us into a situation rather identical to the one we are all in now.”

“Either way,” Voldemort said, “you were still in my presence.”

Breanna’s dad did not reply. “My wife and I,” he said wearily, “had to make one of the most life-altering decisions.” He choked on a silent sob, feeling a fake smile plaster itself to his face. “That phrase was a bit literal,” he said, swallowing. “In the case of my wife, I guess that decision certainly altered _her_ life.”

Breanna felt hot tears begin to stain her cheeks. She attempted to raise her hand to swipe them away, but was unable to since her forearms were still strapped together. Swearing, she dropped her head and allowed the tears to roll freely.

“We needed someone close that we could watch over; someone that we would be able to test subtly without knowledge of our interference in their lives.”

Voldemort turned back towards the man, stepping forward.

No one in the circle moved.

The trees in the wind had stopped moving as the teary-eyed man spoke in a faint whisper.

“Breanna,” he breathed, “we’re so sorry…”

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella jumped behind a large tree, holding her breath as three Death Eaters passed.

_I am_ not _getting in another chase,_ she thought, skirting carefully along the wall behind her. _We’ve clearly pointed out I could do with a bit more exercise – I don’t need another reminder._

Bella tripped over the back of her long cloak as it caught on a jagged, metal piece sticking out from the bottom of the wall.

_Time to ditch the cloak…_

Glad that she was finally shedding some extra baggage, Bella approached the first building she found. She peeked inside the stain glass windows surrounding the door. Squinting, Bella did not see any sign of people.

She reached for the handle and turned, pushing hard on the door. Over the years, the door had begun to stick and rust in certain spots. With a final shove, the door budged out of its spot and opened.

Bella shielded her eyes from the bright light and quickly got inside, closing the door behind her.

A long hallway met her curious eyes, splitting off into many different rooms. Her eyes lingered on the door at the end of the hallway.

Bella shook herself out of her reverie. _Alright,_ she thought, readjusting her clothes and looking at the variety of rooms to choose from, _I need to find a spot to hide this…_

Bella passed the first door. _Too obvious,_ she thought. At the second door, Bella opened it with caution, but found a set of stairs, leading several floors above her. _Not worth it…_

She passed the third and fourth door, assuming they would also be staircases. _This is ridiculous_ , Bella fought with herself. _Pick any room – it doesn’t matter!_

_No,_ she argued back stubbornly. _It has to be a good room; a room they wouldn’t suspect!_

_Come on – they won’t care if they found a cloak or not. It’s just a cloak. It’s not like they’ll care if you left it in the middle of the hallway._

Bella shook her head, passing the fifth door. _I’ve got to hide it!_

_Oh, please. You just want to see the room at the end of the hallway._

Bella stopped in her tracks and stared at the large, metal door. _That’s right,_ Bella agreed, growing more curious by the second; she wanted to see the door at the end of the hallway.

Ignoring the rest of the doors, Bella walked directly to the large door, amazed at its size. _I highly doubt this was just any old room,_ she thought, studying every groove in the door. She ran her fingers across several dents in the door.

_What on earth is inside here?_ Bella questioned, her curiosity growing to the maximum. _Treasure?_ she wondered. _A historical find?_

Unable to hold back any longer, Bella clutched the large door handle and turned, putting all of her weight into the door.

She felt it slide. Her heart beat faster as her curiosity peaked. _One more push…_

With a final shove, the door loosened, swinging open, revealing something Bella had not imagined would be behind the door.

**Next Chapter: What did Bella see? What will happen to everyone? Aaah, that’s the beauty of it; I know EXACTLY what will happen with each and every character, but that’s for all of YOU to guess at. :D**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	23. The Final Trick

**Author's Note: I'm really hoping this is one of my best chapters...**

**Chapter Twenty-Three: The Final Trick**

 “ _Daddy_?”

Voldemort let out a series of laughs. The Death Eaters followed suit.

Breanna stared at her father, begging for him to lie to her – anything but _this_.

And then a strange thing happened. His eyes locked with hers, creating a strong bond. Breanna immediately felt all noise around her disappear. It was an odd sensation; she felt as if she were floating on a cloud. She did not look away from her father’s eyes, for fear of dropping into a bottomless pit.

With a strong tug, Breanna felt as if her mind had been pulled from her head. She had no feeling in her body any longer. Everything was numb.

Breanna heard her father’s voice inside of her head.

**_Sirius_** , his voice seemed to whisper frantically. **_Look at Sirius._**

Breanna frowned. Her father quickly looked away the moment Voldemort returned to his side.

_What on earth was that?_ She tossed her hair over her shoulder, eying Sirius as he bent his head over his lap in concentration. _Sirius?_

Puzzled, Breanna stretched her neck further, attempting to attract Sirius’ attention without speaking. Sirius looked up suddenly, staring into her eyes.

Breanna gasped.

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

_Keep talking, Mr. Roysen_ , Sirius urged. He glanced nervously over his shoulder at the surrounding Death Eaters. _Just like I told you to…_

Mr. Roysen blinked multiple times as he attempted to clear the tears from his eyes.

_One distraction – that’s all I need…_ Sirius took a deep breath and dropped his hand beside his pocket, hovering discreetly.

“Is she still a Legilimens?” Voldemort asked.

Mr. Roysen shook his head. “There are time constraints for the potion,” he said.

The Dark Lord continued to watch him.

“I suppose you would like to know the constraints?”

Voldemort did not speak, merely staring at him instead. He chose to ignore Mr. Roysen’s tone; he was the only person left that knew everything about the potion.

“One drop,” Mr. Roysen sighed, “is equal to one hour and seventeen minutes.”

Lord Voldemort grinned, bearing his yellow teeth. Slowly, he turned to Breanna.

“However,” Mr. Roysen continued quickly, averting Voldemort’s attention back to himself, “my wife and I gave Breanna a bit more than we probably should have.”

Voldemort spun back, eyeing his prey with curiosity. “Explain.”

Sirius looked over his shoulder again, waiting for the Death Eaters to look away. He scanned the circle for the tenth time, hoping to find something to use as a distraction, something that he might have missed. His eyes fell on Breanna. She was not sitting as she had before; she was shifting around into a kneeling position, as if she was preparing to run. Inhaling deeply, Breanna looked anxiously at Sirius and smiled at him, looking like she was about to hurl.

“At the time that we gave Breanna the potion,” he explained slowly, “we were, unfortunately, not aware of those particular time constraints.” He coughed, lowering his head. “We gave her an entire bottle.”

Voldemort’s eyes darted back to Breanna, scrutinizing the girl under his strong glare. “But she is not a Legilimens?”

Mr. Roysen shook his head. “The potion should have worn off exactly three months and nineteen days ago at approximately four twenty-two in the morning – give or take a few minutes.” The weary man fell deeply into thought. “Due to possible miscalculations, there’s a chance that we might have forgotten a leap year, which would cause Breanna to hold onto her Legilimens for a few more days, but it is highly unlikely.”

Sirius felt the entire group raise an eyebrow together, astounded at his quick mathematics. But it was Voldemort who broke the silence.

“How can I trust you?” he hissed, holding his wand up to Mr. Roysen’s throat, once again.

“Stop!” Breanna jumped awkwardly to her feet because her forearms were still bound together invisibly.

Sirius stared openly at her, but quickly stopped himself. _This is it!_ he thought. _This is the distraction I needed!_

Throwing one last glance at the Death Eaters over his back, Sirius did what he had to do. Quick as a flash, Sirius plunged his hand into his pocket and pulled out seven small, toy-like bombs.

_Ah,_ Sirius felt himself smile. _I’ve never been so happy in my life to see a Zonko’s product…_

“What is it, _girl_?” Voldemort spat, turning his wand on Breanna now.

Breanna froze, standing awkwardly beside Lily and Remus. She felt all eyes on her, including the entire circle of Death Eaters. _Come on Sirius,_ she thought, attempting to wipe the fear from her face and replace it with anger. _I didn’t plan on saying anything else!_

“Speak,” Voldemort commanded, gripping his wand tighter. He pulled it away from her father and pointed it threateningly at Breanna.

Sirius held four of the small bombs in one hand and three in the other. _Alright,_ Sirius concentrated, blocking out all sounds. _You can do this…_

He squeezed the small bombs in his hand. _Light, damn you…_ Taking one more breath, Sirius focused on the small strings hanging out of the tops of each of the bombs. _Incendio,_ he repeated inside of his head. _Incendio, incendio, incendio._

A fire ignited in Sirius’ heart, burning hot. It exploded within his chest, making him believe that his whole body was burning. His jaw locked into place; everything seemed to have locked up. But with a final blast of fire, Sirius felt a burst of magic shoot down both of his arms and emerge from his fingertips.

Sirius opened his eyes suddenly, finding he was staring into Lily’s worried face. “Sirius?” she whispered.

All eyes were on Sirius.

He felt a severe pain in his hands. Sirius gasped sharply, looking down. He opened his hands and there were seven flames, scorching the inside of his hands. He felt himself smile weakly.

And then all went black.

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

_He’s gonna faint –_

Remus quickly snatched the seven bombs from Sirius’ hands as he fell backwards, landing softly on the grass.

_Oh no…_

Flames of red and orange were slowly burning down, seconds from disappearing. With a fast arm, Remus launched the bombs directly into the air. The entire group surrounding the Hogwarts students followed the bombs curiously, taking no action.

The seven bombs were thrown several feet into the air. For a moment, they seemed to hover but then began to drop down steadily and fast. Lily and Mr. Roysen both ducked, covering their heads with their hands.

Alarmed, Remus realized that Breanna was still standing on her feet. Remus snatched Breanna’s arm and pulled her down to the ground with alarming speed, covering her head protectively. She did not resist.

Six feet above the ground, the bombs exploded, releasing a thick, dark gas three feet in radius. It hovered in the air, clouding the Death Eaters’ vision, but leaving the area beneath the dark cloud clear.

Remus raised his head, surveying the surroundings. _Perfect,_ he thought, allowing a fleeting smile. A large cloud had tricked the Death Eaters into believing they could see nothing. Below the cloud, Mr. Roysen, Lily, Sirius, Breanna, and Remus were able to see everything clearly, including the puzzled movements of the Death Eaters’ feet.

Remus looked around, hoping to find a particularly weak Death Eater. At once, a thin man appeared before Remus’ line of vision. Acting upon impulse, he charged the confused Death Eater.

Remus ran full throttle, slamming his head into the Death Eater’s stomach with a hollow thud. The man was knocked immediately to the ground, groaning.

The hood of the cloak fell back and Remus gasped.

“ _Rookwood_?”

Rookwood snarled, attempting to stand up, but Remus quickly took care of that. Pulling his hand back, he punched him as hard as he could, knocking him out.

“Ouch…” Remus shook his hand limply as it began to sting. He had never punched anyone before, and he certainly did not look forward to doing so again.

His senses came back immediately, and Remus dug through Rookwood’s pocket. Finally, he found what he was looking forward.

Snatching the wand, Remus ran in the opposite direction of the group of Death Eaters. He held the wand high in the air, speaking softly so that he did not attract any of the Death Eaters’ attention. “ _Accio wands!_ ”

After several seconds, nine wands whizzed through the darkness, all landing one by one at Remus’ feet. Grinning, he picked all of them up, throwing Rookwood’s wand over the stone wall surrounding the castle.

 !~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

_What on earth_ was _that thing?_ Lily crawled past Breanna and her dad as they pushed their way out of the circle and past the remains of the bombs, spewed across the lawn. She made a mental note to ask Sirius about the bombs after he regained consciousness.

“Sirius,” Lily whispered hurriedly, kneeling beside his motionless body. She fanned him, slapping his face a few times. “Wake up – we’ve got to go!”

Slowly, he opened his eyes. Sirius stared up at the fog, more confused than ever. “Where the _hell_ am I?”

Lily grinned. “It looks to me like the underside of a dungbomb gone horribly wrong.”

“Ah…” Sirius smirked. He pulled himself into a sitting position, cringing. He stretched out his arms and twisted his neck to the side. “I don’t think I’ll be doing any magic for quite some time now…”

Lily patted him on the back and motioned to a spot across the circle where there was an opening between two Death Eaters to crawl out. “Wandless magic,” Lily said softly, amazed at Sirius’ ability to get out of any mess they were in. “I can’t believe you still had another trick up your sleeve.”

“Remus said for me to use my strengths to help out,” Sirius pointed out, crawling very slowly on all fours. He made a face as his burnt hands hit the ground, throbbing with pain. “It just took me awhile to figure out that pranks would be _useful_ in this situation.”

Lily laughed, following Sirius as he crawled away, but her laughter was quickly cut off.

She felt a hand swipe at her head. Lily spun around, looking for the source. Before she was able to see the owner of the hand, there was another swipe at her, but this time it found her hair. She felt a tug as the hand pulled at the roots of her long hair.

Lily attempted to scream and escape the grip, hoping that someone would notice she had not escaped. The grip grew firmer, pulling up. Lily fought with all the strength left inside of her to not rise into the smoke. But the more that she pulled away, the harder she was pulled back.

Continuing to struggle, Lily felt a second hand grip the cloth of her hood. It felt around, finding her shoulder, and then reaching its final destination: her throat.

She could not fight the Death Eater off any longer. Gasping for air, Lily was jerked reluctantly into the smoke.

Lily panicked. She could see _nothing_. Smoke blinded her vision. She brought her hands up to her throat, attempting to free herself from the grip.

For a fleeting moment, she had almost believed that she succeeded in freeing herself of the deadly grasp, but her relief had quickly disappeared as soon as a wand was jabbed against her throat, pushing deep into her pulse point and sure to leave a red mark for several hours.

Lily continued to struggle against the grip, slowly succumbing to the fact that she had a slim chance – if any – of making it out of Carisbrooke Castle alive. _I don’t think this was supposed to happen…_

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Breanna crawled to her dad’s side as quickly as she could. “Dad, we’ve got to go!”

“Breanna!” Mr. Roysen hugged her, attempting not to sob into her shoulder. “Breanna, I’m _so_ sorry. I had to tell him; it was our plan!”

“Its fine, Dad,” Breanna whispered. “Everything can be solved at home. Right now, we need to leave,” she hissed frantically, hoping none of the Death Eaters above her would hear her voice.

Her dad nodded, wiping the tears out of his eyes. She shoved one of the Death Eaters into another, creating an open space for them to exit.

The two escaped into the open, able to breathe freely. Breanna’s dad smiled sadly, throwing himself at his daughter once more, unable to hide his tears. “We didn’t mean to,” he said, clutching her to him. “It was only supposed to last a few hours, Breanna, you’ve _got_ to believe me!”

Breanna nodded, hoping to get her father to move away from their location and closer to the exit. “A few hours, a few years; all that matters is that I’m not on Voldemort’s radar any longer, right?”

Her father did not speak.

“Dad?”

“Did you hear me earlier?” he asked, dragging her away from the mass of panicked Death Eaters.

“When?” she asked. “What part?”

“No,” he quickly answered. “When you _looked_ at me. Through direct eye contact,” he said clearly. “What did you hear?”

Breanna swallowed, very confused. “You didn’t _say_ anything…”

“ _Exactly_ ,” he pointed out. “But what did you hear?”

“Sirius,” she whispered, wondering if he had lost his mind. Her throat began to constrict; the first sign of tears. “I – I _thought_ you told me to look at Sirius.”

Her father nodded, frowning. “And so you looked at him. What did you hear, Breanna?”

Breanna began to cry silently. She hiccupped. “I heard him say that he needed a distraction.”

Mr. Roysen shook his head sadly. “As I thought…”

“Daddy,” Breanna squeaked, trying to wipe the tears from her face. With her hands still bound together, it was very challenging. “What’s _happening_?” she asked. “What happened to me?”

“You still have it,” he whispered rapidly, “but _he_ doesn’t know.”

“I still have _what_?” Breanna asked in a low tone as her father was.

“ _Legilimancy._ ”

Breanna did not speak. “You _told_ me I didn’t have it anymore!” she nearly shrieked.

“That’s what is _supposed_ to happen,” her father explained, pulling her further and further away from the dark cloud still hovering over the many Death Eaters. “But the fear that your mother and I had,” he continued, “was that you would have trained yourself to use Legilimancy without ever realizing it. After so many years of having the ability to perform Legilimancy, you would be able to continue without the help of the potion.”

“No,” Breanna interjected stubbornly. Her eyes widened. “Earlier,” she explained, “I could _hear_ you. I’ve never had that – that sort of _feeling_ before…”

Her father nodded. “That’s because you have the full power of Legilimancy. There’s no potion restricting your abilities any longer.”

“But I’ve been without a potion for several months!”

“No,” he explained calmly. “That’s what I told Voldemort. You’ve been without a potion for no less than an _hour_.”

Breanna felt herself let out several sobs. She pulled her two arms that were still glued together close to her face, covering her eyes.

“The effects are simple,” he continued, hugging his daughter close to him. He felt his heart fall to pieces as he told the truth he had been hiding from her for years. “With a potion, you were able to receive suspicions or feelings. Without the potion, you are able to enter a person’s mind to know exactly what he or she is thinking. But _only_ with direct eye contact.”

_That’s how I knew,_ she found herself reasoning as she wiped away her tears. _That’s how I figured out Remus was a werewolf. That’s how I knew that the Princess was lying._ Breanna shook her head in defeat, unable to take everything in at once.

“Mr. Roysen! Breanna – what _happened_?”

“Remus,” Mr. Roysen said softly, relieved to see another face.

“What happened to her?” Remus asked, frowning at the tears pouring out of Breanna’s eyes. He held up his wand and whispered, “ _Finite_.” Relieved, Breanna felt her arms separate from each other.

“We’ll explain later,” Mr. Roysen said quickly. “As for now, we need to get out. And our diversion doesn’t look like it will be able to hold up for much longer.” A few Death Eaters had figured out to merely walk out of the large, black cloud or to drop onto their hands and knees. It wouldn’t be long before they were all able to realize what happened and where the others had disappeared to.

“The cloud disappears within a few minutes,” Remus said, handing Mr. Roysen and Breanna their wands.

“Then we’ve got to go now.” Mr. Roysen put on a determined face. “Nearly an eighth of the Death Eaters belong to Hogwarts.”

Remus nodded, only slightly amazed by the numbers. “What does that mean?” he asked.

“There is no quicker way to travel from Hogwarts to a location many miles away other than by a portkey,” he explained. Breanna was well finished with her crying and had crossed her arms, glaring in the direction of the Death Eaters. She listened in on the plan, eager to duel. “Every night, the Death Eaters from Hogwarts return at midnight, unless they are delayed.”

“We have less than fifteen minutes,” Remus whispered frantically, looking quickly at his watch. He raised his wand steadily into the air, saying loudly, “ _Accio portkeys!_ ”

A Death Eater that was currently crawling out from underneath the large, black cloud had heard Remus. He immediately pulled his head up, squinting to find the source of the noise.

Mr. Roysen was quick with his wand, even after several months of being held captive. He waved his wand quickly over his head and shot a stunning spell at the Death Eater. The cloaked man dropped to the ground.

“Where _are_ they?” Remus muttered, wondering if he had not done the correct motions for summoning the portkeys.

“They must be locked up,” Breanna said logically. “We have to find them…”

“The gatehouse,” Mr. Roysen supplied. “They all enter through the gatehouse – they _have_ to have left their portkeys there after they enter, right?”

Remus nodded and set off, running to the gatehouse. “Logical,” he muttered, astounded at Mr. Roysen’s knowledge of the building.

Breanna and her father traveled close on Remus’ tail, dodging spells from Death Eaters that were finding their way out of the black fog.

But soon, multiple Death Eaters had surrounded them on all sides. Breanna could tell they were fighting a losing battle and it was time for a drastic change.

_Alright,_ Breanna narrowed her eyes defiantly, raising her wand high above her head. _It’s time to try this Legilimancy…_

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

_Damn…_

Sirius stood up as soon as he had cleared the black cloud. He ran to the nearest torch on the wall and held his hands into the pool of light that it was giving off, cringing at the sight.

His two hands were red and throbbing painfully. The fire from the seven bombs that Sirius had clenched tightly in his hands earlier had burnt his palms and they were beginning to blister.

_That’ll leave a nasty scar…_

A blue spell whizzed past Sirius’ ear. Frightened, he looked over his shoulder toward the black cloud and found to his dismay that many Death Eaters had escaped. None of them looked happy, either.

Several Death Eaters charged Sirius with their wands raised high above their heads. They did _not_ look happy.

Sirius felt his muscles seize up. He had no idea what to do! He had no wand to shoot any spells back. With the condition of his hands, Sirius probably wouldn’t even be able to _hold_ the wand. And even if Sirius _had_ a wand and if his fingers weren’t blistered to the core, he wouldn’t be able to use it anyway because he had used wandless magic; everyone knew that after using wandless magic so far along in your magical training, you aren’t able to do any magic for days on end. So Sirius did the only thing he _could_ do in his situation.

_Run._

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

_It’s not hard_ , Breanna rationed. _You’ve been doing this for years without realizing it…_

Breanna recalled her father’s words as the Death Eaters surrounded them. _Direct eye contact_ , he had said to her.

Ignoring the uneasy butterflies filling her stomach, Breanna quickly uttered a spell she had heard earlier.

“ _Flabrorum!_ ”

A large gust of wind emitted from the end of Breanna’s wand. The group of Death Eaters in front of them were shocked as their hoods were swept off, revealing their faces.

“Oy!” Breanna shouted at the people, redirecting their stares to her face. She looked into each and every pair of eyes. She felt the familiar sensation returning back to her; her mind was floating from body to body.

She felt a jolt as her mind returned to her own body with the possession of everyone’s thoughts.

Breanna grinned.

Several spells were sent her way but she dropped to the ground, kneeling in the dirt. She held her wand into the air and hit three specific Death Eaters with a stunning spell, knocking them flat onto the ground.

Without blinking, Breanna rose quickly to her feet and ran to her right, pushing Remus hard into the ground. A green ball of light flew over his body and hit the tree behind them, causing the tree to lose its leaves and shrivel.

Remus lifted his head, spitting out the dirt that had caught unexpectedly between his teeth. He watched in amazement as Breanna ducked and shot spells at over ten skilled Death Eaters with exact precision in her movements.

Rolling onto his side, Remus looked at the tree that had taken a spell for him. _Avada Kedavra,_ he gasped in awe. _Breanna knew it was coming and pushed me out of the way – she saved my_ life _._

The last of the Death Eaters had been knocked to the ground, unconscious.

“Now _that_ ,” Mr. Roysen muttered awestruck at his daughter’s newly found ability, “is the reason we wanted a Legilimancy potion for the aurors.”

Breanna smirked. She surveyed the damage that she had caused toward the Death Eaters, and then looked over in the direction where Remus was lying on the ground. “Are you alright?” she asked sensitively. “I hope I didn’t push you too hard…”

Remus merely shook his head, blinking several times. He wondered if his jaw was still hanging open.

“What _was_ that?” Remus asked sounding very surprised, to say the least.

“Legilimancy,” Breanna smiled, helping Remus to his feet. “It’s a long story…”

“What _ever_ the hell that was,” Remus muttered, gripping Breanna’s hand within his own, “it was _amazing._ I have never seen anyone that prepared for a fight in my _life_.”

“It helps to know what your opponent is planning,” Breanna cutely smirked. She leaned in to kiss Remus, but was quickly stopped.

“None of that, here,” Mr. Roysen butted in awkwardly, suddenly very protective of his little girl. “In case you have forgotten, our lives are all still at stake…”

Remus nodded, taking several steps away from his girlfriend and her father. “Of course,” he said quietly.

Breanna led the group with a brisk walk and a red face. “Over there,” she said, pointing to a spot several yards away. Two Death Eaters leaned casually against the wall. Behind them, a large trunk was shoved into a corner.

Mr. Roysen stunned both of the Death Eaters easily. They keeled over in the dirt and dropped onto their face, unmoving.

“Quick,” Remus said, “before anyone notices.”

Mr. Roysen and Breanna stood with their wands raised in front of them as Remus picked at the lock on the trunk. With a weak, “ _Alohomora,_ ” the lock fell off.

Remus pushed the trunk up with a great deal of muscle. After a lot of grunting and a loud _squeak_ , the trunk lid was open. Remus fished around inside, pulling out multiple items and shoving them into his pocket.

“I’ve got them,” Remus said to Breanna. “It’s time to find the others.”

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James sighed. The two Death Eaters guarding the door had not taken their eyes off of him for any reason at all. They did not even shift from side to side every now and then.

He knew they were the strongest men out of the entire group. The certainly _looked_ like they were the strongest. There was a good chance that these two, burly men were not the brightest of the bunch, but if they were given a simple order – don’t let James Potter out of your sight – they would most certainly obey that command.

A soft scratching noise bounced off of the walls.

_Not another rat…_ James had seen his fair share of rats scuttle suspiciously across the floor, directly between his legs. He did not need another one.

The scratching grew louder, followed by a soft thud.

James looked up at the two Death Eaters. The sound was definitely coming from behind the door, and both were finally beginning to fidget.

With a sudden _thud_ , the door swung open, revealing a small girl, peering suspiciously into the room.

Her jaw dropped.

_Bella!_

The two Death Eaters turned around, staring accusingly at the girl. “Who are _you_?” one of the men hissed.

James stood quickly from his seat, using the distraction as an advantage. He dropped to the ground, ignoring the possibility of bugs, rodents, and old spider webs littering the floor. Without making a noise, James crawled to the corner of the wall and then tiptoed forward until he was directly behind one of the two men.

“Sorry,” he heard Bella stammer. “Wrong room…”

“I don’t think so, missy…” One of the men began to step outside of the room, advancing toward Bella. James stomped his foot loudly.

His diversion worked. The two men turned back to look inside of the room. “Oy,” one said nervously, staring at the bench. “Where did he _go_?”

James tapped the large man’s shoulder. The man spun just as James had pulled his arm back, balling it into a fist.

With a wild swing, James managed to hit his target in the jaw. The man stumbled backwards, not expecting a blow to his face. He fell to the floor.

“What the – _Potter_!” The second man, still standing, began to charge James.

_What do I do?_ James panicked. He cringed, anticipating the impact.

It turned out that James did not need to do anything at all. The moment the man had begun to run for James, Bella had jumped on the Death Eater’s back, holding her cloak as a blindfold in front of his eyes so that he could not see where he was going.

“Stay _away_ from James,” Bella shrieked, amazed at her own bravery.

The man shook his head repeatedly, hoping for the cloak to somehow remove itself. He began to spin in circles and running into the walls. But as hard as he might have thrown Bella against the wall, she did not let go.

The man stumbled over his friend, landing sprawled on the floor. His head hit the stone with a loud _crack_ , instantly knocking him out.

Bella rolled off the man’s back, groaning in pain. “ _Shit,_ ” she hissed, cradling her arm. Bella looked up at James, shaking her head. “That’s the _very_ last time I save you, got it?”

James ran to Bella’s side. “Are you alright?”

“What do _you_ think?” Bella held up her right arm and pointed to a misshapen bone. “I think that last run in with the wall broke my arm.”

James gripped Bella’s left arm and pulled her to her feet just as the first Death Eater began to stir, massaging his jaw. They walked quickly out of the door, locking it before they had departed entirely.

“How did you know where to find me?” James asked, allowing Bella to lean on him. Her arm had weakened her overall tolerance for pain.

“Luck,” Bella muttered, frowning at her wrist.

James hid his smile, instead focusing on her arm. “Are you going to be alright?” he asked. “Madame Pomfrey will be able to fix it when we get back, I’m sure. But everything else is good, right? You didn’t bump your head back there, did you?”

Bella shook her head, biting her lip. At first, she had not cared about her arm, but the pain was growing more and more as the seconds passed. She held back her tears.

James opened the main door leading outside and helped Bella out with a hand on her back. They stood inside of a small alcove just outside of the door.

Bella allowed a squeal to emit from her throat. “Oh my – what _happened_?”

James peeked out and felt his eyes bulge out of their sockets. The grounds were not as he had remembered them. Lights from wands now flooded the dirt paths and spells shot back and forth. James ducked low just as a spell whizzed over him.

“You should probably hide or stay out of the way until things calm down,” James said to Bella quietly. “They’re bound to notice we got out soon enough, and, personally, you don’t look like you’re in much of a condition to fight anymore.”

Bella put on a stubborn face. “I can fight if I _wanted_ to,” she protested, trying to block out the throbbing pain in her arm. “I just have a small disadvantage,” she muttered.

“ _James!_ ”

The two teenagers looked toward the right to find Remus sprinting into the small alcove with them. He spoke quickly and quietly, ducking from the continuous spells as Breanna and Mr. Roysen ran past, blocking spells from Death Eaters.

“These are portkeys,” he explained, holding out a pink teacup and a brand new quill in each of his hands. “They leave at midnight, so we don’t have long.”

James nodded.

“Breanna and her dad are keeping the Death Eaters back for now,” Remus said. “But I have no idea where Lily and Sirius went off to.”

Just as the words came out of Remus’ mouth, a large, black dog ran past.

“I think I have a good idea where Sirius might be…” Bella muttered. She snatched the quill from Remus’ hand and said, “I’ll find Sirius and meet you back at Hogwarts.”

Remus stopped her and held up a wand in front of her face.

“I might as well,” she said, pocketing two wands that belonged to her and Sirius. “I can’t use magic with my arm, but we’ll see what Sirius can do.”

Without any hesitation, Bella jumped into the war zone to find Sirius, dodging any spells that flew at her.

“This is mine, then?” James asked, pointing to the teacup.

Remus nodded and handed it over. “Breanna, Mr. Roysen, and I have our own portkey to take us back.” He gave James his wand and Lily’s wand. “Try to find Lily.”

James took his wand and pocketed Lily’s wand along with the pink teacup. Swallowing the large lump in his throat, he heaved out a long sigh and raised his wand into the air. The familiar, determined face that Remus always seemed to see during the midst of a prank fell over James’ face now but for an entirely different reason.

“I won’t leave without her.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

Sirius stumbled wearily over his large paws through the castle grounds. During a brief moment after Sirius had thought he lost the pack of Death Eaters chasing after him, he had transformed into a large dog. As soon as his burnt hands hit the ground, he immediately regretted it, but the Death Eaters had quickly found this stray dog, leaving it very hard for Sirius to change back without raising any suspicion.

Dodging from shadow to shadow, Sirius’ heart pounded rapidly inside of his ribcage, about to burst. His adrenaline had long since run out, leaving him breathless. Piece by piece, Sirius felt his body slowly fall apart.

Sirius was unable to run any further. He hardly felt his body lock up and his mind shut down, collapsing at the base of a tree. Breathing heavily, he lost his focus to maintain his Animagus form, and changed back into his own body.

“ _Sirius!_ ”

Sirius did not move. He could recognize the voice as soon as it had reached his ears.

“Bella,” he wheezed, opening one eye. A blurry image came into view.

“We need to move,” she pleaded with him desperately. “We can’t stay here, Sirius.”

Sirius imagined in his mind that he was nodding, but knew that in reality, he was not.

Bella pulled Sirius into a sitting position. “Sirius – are you with me?”

“Bella,” he repeated, not listening to her previous question. Sirius opened both of his eyes. “What are we doing?”

“Stand up,” Bella commanded urgently. She helped pull Sirius to his feet, cringing as she could have sworn she heard the same bone in her arm crack just a bit further than before.

Still breathing heavily, Sirius swayed slightly on his feet and threw an arm around Bella’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he rasped.

Bella did not answer. She grunted quietly under the weight of his body, but did not stop her quick and purposeful movements. They had to find a location nearby and out of harm’s way, and Bella’s only option within the vicinity was behind several bushes near the stone wall.

“Right here,” Bella whispered after they had reached their new hiding spot behind three large shrubs.

Sirius dropped to the ground, relieved. He rested against the wall. Sirius regained the use of his body and spoke. “Where did you come from?”

“I saw you running,” Bella explained, sitting quickly down beside him, hiding from view.

“Ah – right,” Sirius muttered, frowning down at his mutilated hands. “I – I think I need a Healer.”

“Sirius, listen to me,” Bella stated clearly, worried that Sirius was wavering on the edge of consciousness. He had been running continuously at top speed for at least twenty minutes, not to mention he had also been drained of nearly a full week’s worth of magic. His hands – or paws – had also been through a great deal of damage; after running on the blisters, she saw that many areas of Sirius’ hands had opened, leaving the raw skin exposed. At the sound of the loud growl in Sirius’ stomach, she realized that he had also been running on no food. “This is important for you to pay attention to.”

Sirius nodded.

“This is a portkey,” Bella said, holding up the quill from inside of her pocket. “No matter what happens, you and I have to hold onto this – it’s our only ticket out of here, got it?”

With a heavy sigh, Sirius’ eyes rolled into the back of his head and he slumped into Bella’s lap.

“Oh, _shit_.”

With much difficulty, Bella used her only good arm to stuff the quill into Sirius’ limp hand. She clenched his hand closed around it, and then held her own hand to the feathered tip.

Restlessly, Bella counted the seconds. _Just a little bit longer,_ she sighed. _We’ll all make it back to Hogwarts safe and sound – we just have to wait it out._

Bella hated the extra time given for her to dwell on topics she did not wish to think about. She began to worry about things she would never have thought that she would need to. What would the staff at Hogwarts say when the entire sixth year of Gryffindor showed up, bruised, bloodied, and beat up? Would they all earn a string of detentions, or an award? Would they all even make it back _alive_?

Ridding herself of these horrid thoughts, Bella focused on the task at hand, once again. _Why the hell isn’t this thing working?_ For a brief moment, she began to panic – was this actually a portkey or a fake? Was it _faulty_?

Sudden voices in the area made Bella jump with alarm. _Not now!_ Bella pleaded. _We’re so close – just give us one more minute!_

The two wands lying in her pocket were useless, given the condition that both she and Sirius were in. Even if Sirius had not been currently lying on her pocket, Bella would not be able to use any sort of defense against Death Eaters. The only thing she could hope for was them to pass by.

“Watch yourself,” a boisterous voice shouted, shattering the silence. “They could be anywhere.”

“ _Sure_ , they can…” another voice said.

“Look,” the louder voice yelled and the footsteps stopped. “I _don’t_ need any of your lip tonight, Brokey.”

Bella held her breath, pressing her back against the stone wall. A large, hairy spider slowly crept up her arm.

_Don’t move,_ she told herself firmly, attempting to forget about the spider crawling towards her face. Ever since Bella could remember, she had been diagnosed with a terrible case of arachnophobia, unable to even look at a spider without paling. She clenched her eyes shut, keeping her breaths calm. _No matter what happens, you can’t move…_

“They probably left already.”

“They did _not_ leave!” The loud man took in a deep breath, clearly irritated by the fact that several Hogwarts students had outsmarted a large group of Death Eaters. “There are seven of them – do _you_ think they would simply be able to walk out of here?”

Bella bit deep into her lip, turning her head away as the spider reached her shoulder. _I can’t handle this,_ she shuddered, feeling tears spring into her eyes. _I have to move –_

“Did you hear that?”

Bella raised an eyebrow, confused. She had _not_ moved. In fact, the spider was still sitting casually on top of her shoulder, unable to recognize the gravity of the situation.

“Yeah, it was some sort of – _grunt_ …”

_Grunt?_ Bella strained her ears, hoping to hear what noise they had heard. And then she heard it again. It was Sirius.

He was _snoring_.

_Oh, no_ , Bella swallowed, feeling her heart skip several beats. _You have_ got _to be kidding me…_

The footsteps started up again, growing closer. With a swift motion, Bella flicked the spider off of her shoulder and grasped the quill in panic as tightly as she could. She double checked Sirius’ grip as well.

Without any warning, Bella watched in horror as the bushes in front of her split apart with two men, staring down at her like she was their dinner.

The burly man began to laugh loudly. “Look at this, Brokey – they aren’t even _trying_ to run.”

The thin man named Brokey joined in, grinning evilly. “Rather pathetic, isn’t it? They’ve just given up, simple as that.” He sighed dramatically and raised his wands. “It’s a shame that you have to die after all that you’ve been through.”

Bella blocked out the speech and closed her eyes. _They’re right_ , she realized. _I’m going to die. After everything we went through – I’ll be dead within seconds._

The man raised his wand into the air and opened his mouth, preparing to send a curse toward her direction, but he stopped suddenly. It was possible that a fly had lodged itself in his throat and was blocking his air passage. Maybe in a moment of kindness, Brokey had a sudden change of heart and stopped himself from uttering the killing curse.

Or it could have been the fact that while the two men had been speaking, Bella and Sirius had simply vanished before their eyes.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

_Find Lily,_ James repeated over and over in his head. _Find Lily and get out._

James jumped into the chaos, firing spell after spell at any Death Eater he met. He refused to back down.

Remus followed closely behind James, his wand held defensively in the air. He quickly moved in Breanna’s direction, standing beside her as they dueled the group of cloaked men.

“Well?” Breanna gasped out, taking several deep breaths as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. She dodged two spells by dropping to the ground.

“James has the portkey,” he said under his breath, helping Breanna to her feet. “Your dad has ours, right?”

Breanna nodded, narrowing her eyes determinedly in the direction of the remaining Death Eaters. She smirked as she read their thoughts satisfyingly.

“Keep it up,” Mr. Roysen grinned, watching his daughter out of the corner of his eyes. “Split up,” he said underneath his breath, nodding toward James. “Distract them from James.”

Remus nodded obediently. Taking several steps back, he held two fingers to his lips and whistled as loud as he could. “Hey!” he called, in case no one had heard. “I’m right here – come and get me!”

James looked back, grateful for the diversion. He smiled briefly and turned back to the remaining Death Eater standing in his path.

“ _Furnunculus!_ ” James shouted. He swore as the spell missed.

“ _Stupefy!_ ” the lone Death Eater retaliated bravely, standing his ground.

James was too quick for him. With a nicely placed, “ _Protego,_ ” the spell bounced off of James and hit the Death Eater square in the chest, knocking him flat on his back, unconscious.

A slow smile of triumph settled upon his face.

“ _Flagrate!_ ”

James took a sharp intake of air, cringing. He slapped a hand to his arm, surprised at the pain. James stared open-mouthed at the burn line just skimming the top of his skin. Amazed by the sudden change of events, James sought out the owner of the wand.

“Over here, Potter,” a voice hissed.

James spun on his heels, glaring at the large man in front of him.

“Come on,” the large man said, stepping into a dueling stance. “A fight to the death,” he said slowly, grinning.

“To the _death?_ ” James repeated automatically. He knew that all of his fights with Death Eaters would not stop unless they killed him, but actually hearing the words out loud sent a shiver down his spine.

Swallowing, James took several steps backwards, inches from tripping over the Death Eater that he had stunned earlier.

“You heard me, _James_ ,” the large Death Eater spat.

Without a chance to talk him out of the fight, the large man had begun firing a round of spells off, one right after the other. “ _Crucio!_ ” he shouted.

James easily avoided the spell. After several more spells, he was relieved to find that the man had a horrible aim.

“ _Aguamenti!_ ” James shouted back, shooting a spurt of water into the man’s face, blinding him momentarily.

The man howled in pain, covering his face protectively.

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ”

The final spell hit the slow Death Eater square in the chest, sending him into the air and dropping with a soft thud back on the ground.

“ _James!_ ” a voice shrieked, terrified.

Surprised by the sudden noise, James searched for the voice, ignoring the groaning man lying on his back. Standing in a large, open area was Lord Voldemort, grinning maliciously from ear to ear. He was staring directly at James.

And in his arms, with a wand pressed hard against her throat, was Lily.

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

Peter was fuming. Spitting out the dirt in his mouth, he glared up at his former friend and roommate.

_You’ll pay,_ he resolved, finding his wand several feet in front of him. _It may not be now, but your time will come, Potter._

Crawling on his knees, Peter froze.

_The teacup_.

He immediately recognized the pink teacup lying in the grass as the one he had used to arrive at this very castle several hours earlier.

_He must have dropped it._ Peter cringed as he imagined his roommates returning to Hogwarts by portkey to find Peter nowhere in sight.

Peter looked up, watching James. His eyes were fixed in the opposite direction, focusing on the Dark Lord.

Grinning, Peter snatched the pink teacup right out from under James’ nose and bolted.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

“ _Stupefy!_ ”

Breanna froze after she bellowed her final spell. She heard the thud as the final Death Eater fell to the ground.

“Are there more?” Remus’ voice whispered behind her.

“I think they’re gone…” Breanna relaxed her dueling stance, breathing much easier than she had within the past hour. “ _Wow._ ”

“I’ll say,” Mr. Roysen beamed, walking to his daughter’s side and wrapping her up in a large bear hug. He took a step back and smiled down at Remus. “You didn’t do too badly yourself,” he complimented, sticking his hand out.

Remus stared at Mr. Roysen’s hand, rather astonished. “Thank you, sir,” he grinned.

Breanna smirked as well.

“So,” Remus said in the awkward silence that ensued, “how about that portkey?”

“Ah, yes.” Mr. Roysen pulled out the third and final portkey – a dirty sock – and held it out toward the other two. “Are you both ready to go back?”

Taking a deep breath, Breanna clasped her hand onto one end of the sock beside Remus. “I think,” she muttered in response to her father’s question. With a hint of a smile on her face, she looked in Remus’ direction. “Imagine what Dumbledore will do to us.”

Remus was not listening.

Breanna frowned. “Remus?” she asked. “What are you looking at?” She twisted her neck and looked over her shoulder.

“ _Look_ ,” Remus whispered with horror filled eyes. “Breanna – we can’t go yet!”

“Oh _no_ ,” Breanna swallowed. Tears clouded her vision of James standing alone without a portkey in his hands. She gasped as she found Lily off to the right, strangled in the Dark Lord’s grip. “We can’t leave them alone,” she said hurriedly, her hand loosening on the sock. “We’ve got to - ”

But her words were cut off at the sudden tug on her arm.

The group of three disappeared.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“ _James!_ ”

Lily watched in horror as James found her. He lost all color that had been in his face.

Slowly, James took a single step forward, approaching the two.

“That’s it, Potter,” Voldemort hissed. Lily began gagging as the wand pushed harder against her throat.

James picked up the pace as soon as he heard the choking noises. “Lily!” he gasped between breaths.

Immediately, the Dark Lord pulled away and held his wand in a straight, steady line. James stared at the wand without swaying, almost daring Voldemort to hit him with a spell.

“ _Crucio!_ ” the Dark Lord hissed venomously, watching in pleasure as James Potter fell to the ground, writhing in pain.

Although no sound came out, Lily screamed for James, tears filling her eyes. James had dropped to his knees as soon as the spell hit him. He gritted his teeth, and dug his nails into the muddy grass, but he did not scream. He did not show any sign of giving in. He did not give Voldemort the pleasure of seeing him suffer.

Lily began to struggle in Voldemort’s grip. She kicked at his legs and bit his arm, but he did not budge. In a final attempt to stop the Dark Lord, she brought her arm up as high as she could in his grasp and, with a forceful swing at his wand arm, she managed to break the solid, thin line that connected James to Voldemort’s wand.

 

The spell was lifted off of him. James remained on the ground for several moments, bent over his knees and holding his stomach. He looked up just in time to watch as Voldemort threw Lily roughly to the ground. James did not have a chance to approach her, for the second she was thrown, she was quickly picked up by several other Death Eaters standing by.

“Stand up, Potter,” the Dark Lord said, breathing heavier than normal. “Face me like a man.”

“Don’t do it, James,” Lily whispered, fear in her eyes. _I never should have called to him;_ _I should have let him go without me,_ Lily scolded herself. “ _Don’t do it._ ”

Muscles aching, bruises covering his body, and clothes drenched in a mix of blood and sweat, James rose to his feet.

\-----------------------------------James-----------------------------------

James slowly slipped his hand inside of his pocket. He felt a slight sense of security as the magic encased in his wand warmed at the feel of his touch, heating his numb fingers. Carefully, James held the wand steadily in front of him, pointing it at the Dark Lord.

Swallowing any nerves and fears that he had left, James took the plunge. There was no going back.

“ _What_ did you say to me?” James shouted across the lawn. He was surprised to hear his voice echo so loudly. He had not imagined that it could be so loud in his current state, but James did not show his surprise.

“You heard me loud and clear, Potter,” Voldemort drawled. He raised his upper lip involuntarily, baring his teeth at the boy. “Face me like a man.”

“I would say the same to you,” James stated loud and clear, returning the deadly look, “but in your case, it’s damn near impossible to be a man when you’re already part beast.”

Voldemort did not answer with a retort. Instead he retaliated by waving his wand quickly above his head and shooting a spell directly at James.

It hit James in the chest, knocking him off of his feet and sending him backwards several yards. He landed flat on his back and skidded for several feet after reaching the ground. James felt a hiccup in his body as the wind was knocked out of him, but he ignored the pain and stood, gasping for breath.

“ _Expelliarmus!_ ” James shouted ferociously, sending a strong spell in Voldemort’s direction. In a moment of hope, James had almost thought his spell had hit his opponent, but the Dark Lord reflected the spell at the last minute, sending it off in the opposite direction.

They began to move in a circle like two hawks, eyeing their prey. James ignored the unpleasant feeling as the Death Eaters closed the circle around them, watching in excitement. As James passed Lily, he did not look at her. He knew that the moment he let his guard down, all would be lost.

Voldemort fired a long string of spells in James’ direction, but James was able to deflect them all. He sent another disarming spell back at the Dark Lord.

Voldemort laughed cruelly. “Is that all that Dumbledore can teach you?” he teased, easily dodging the spell. “You didn’t come into this actually thinking you could get away with _clean_ spells, did you?”

James raised an eyebrow at the word clean spells. He took advantage of hitting Voldemort during his speech, and sent multiple stunning spells at him. Again, the Dark Lord was able to dodge the spells much too easily.

“Try an Unforgivable Curse,” Voldemort whispered to the boy under his breath. “I _challenge_ you to use a curse that good ol’ _Dumbledore_ wouldn’t approve of,” Voldemort spat. He slowed his constant pacing and stared directly into James’ eyes. His lips barely moved as he uttered the last words into the stillness.

“I won’t move.”

James felt himself being ripped in two. _You can do this!_ he told himself. _Just say the words and he’s gone forever._ James knew he didn’t have the training nor the experience, but he had strong enough emotions to cast the Unforgivable Curses on the pitiful excuse for a man standing directly in from of him.

James stopped directly across from Voldemort and several yards in front of Lily.

“You can’t do it, _can_ you, Potter?” Voldemort taunted with a hint of a smile on his face. “You don’t have it in you, do you?”

James did not answer the question. In fact, he almost looked as if he had not _heard_ the question. He was still lost in thought from Voldemort’s previous, tempting offer. But something else seemed to be attracting her eye to him.

She stared in awe at the person standing before her. Lily eyed the tall, muscular figure, wondering what had happened to the boy she once knew. His hair no longer jetted out defiantly at odd angles; it was finally beginning to look natural. His chin stuck out bravely instead of protruding upward like an obnoxious child wanting their way. He stood with his back straight, his shoulders back, and his wand steady before him without the slightest bit of hesitation. The child that Lily Evans once knew was gone.

In his place stood a fully grown man.

James balanced himself evenly on his two feet. With a deep breath, he broke the silence.

“I refuse to stoop to your level.”

The Dark Lord looked as if he had seen this response coming. His face did not change. His smile did not fade. His body did not sway. With a grim sigh, he finally answered.

“Well, Potter,” he said. “So be it.”

Without a warning, Voldemort waved his wand and sent the same spell that he had earlier at James, knocking him off of his feet. Instead of landing flat on his back this time, James slammed into the person behind him: Lily.

“Stand _aside_!” Voldemort hollered at his fellow Death Eaters surrounding the pair. Without having to be told twice, the burly men holding Lily had quickly moved away, leaving the two students lying on the ground in pain.

Lily did not pay attention to the threat of the Death Eaters surrounding them. She took James’ hand and squeezed it comfortingly. “Are you alright?” she asked him promptly in a whisper, referring to the several cuts and dry blood covering his clothes.

“I – I’m fine,” he whispered under his breath, avoiding eye contact. James managed to pull himself into a sitting position very close to Lily. She sensed that after everything they had been through on this night, James was finally afraid. They swallowed as the hem of a very long robe came into view near their feet.

“You may _try_ to succeed in everything that you do,” Voldemort recited slowly, “but sooner or later, Potter, you will fail. And you will fail _miserably_.”

The Death Eaters around them laughed under their breath, imagining the two students’ horrible fate.

“I’m terribly sorry it had to end this way,” Voldemort said with a slight hint of dismay. “I really could have used some good Death Eaters like you two on my side.”

Lily felt James’ grip on her hand tighten out of frustration. With a strong but steady voice, James answered, “We would rather burn in _hell_ than join you.”

The wind stopped blowing, eager to listen in on their conversation. “Your wish is my command,” the Dark Lord said with a crooked grin. He raised his wand and it glinted under the light of the torch hanging above them.

Lily closed her eyes and gripped James’ hand.

Lord Voldemort opened his mouth, uttering the worst of the three Unforgivable Curses.

“ _Avada Kedavra!_ ”

**Next Chapter: Epilogue-ish chapter... The story's wrapping up! The last chapter. That’s all I need to say.**

**Well, guys… it’s almost finished! But don’t worry about no new stories ever appearing – currently, another story is being written and is almost finished and ready to post. And I’m sure I’ll get some other one-shots coming after awhile… :D**

**Thanks, everyone!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


	24. Inseparable

**Author's Note: I swear, I thought I had already posted the last chapter... Apparently not - my sincerest apologies!**

**I hope you guys loved the story as much as I loved writing it, and I hope to talk to you all more later!**

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Inseparable**

Bella groaned as she felt herself hit the solid ground. Disoriented, she rolled backwards and bumped her head on the stone floor.

It took Bella several moments to realize what had just happened. She and Sirius had just traveled by Portkey, narrowly escaping death.

With a slow smile spreading across her face, Bella rolled over onto her side and hugged Sirius. He was coming out of his deep sleep and gaining back a minimal amount of energy.

“Where are we?” he croaked.

Bella sat up and shrugged. She cringed as she felt a string of sharp pains sent down her broken arm and out of her fingers. She heard a faint squeak of a rusty bed spring and immediately realized where they were located.

_A dormitory_.

Without speaking, Bella held a small finger to her lips: a signal for Sirius not to utter a word. She struggled, but was able to help him to his feet without the use of her broken arm. He lost his balance and wobbled, leaning against Bella.

Bella took one step forward and motioned for Sirius to do the same. Together, the pair managed to reach the door.

Sirius reached out for the handle, but quickly pulled his hand back as he remembered his burnt palms. He looked over at Bella with a quick head jerk to the door and held his hands up for display.

Bella had forgotten about Sirius’ injury and let out a shuddering gasp.

“ _Who’s there_?”

Bella and Sirius froze.

“Hello?” the scratchy voice said, tired from sleep. Bella heard the springs of the mattress creak as the person in bed rolled over underneath their sheets. There was a thud and Bella realized it was the person’s hand hitting their bedside table in an attempt to find their wand.

“ _Quick!_ ” Bella hissed as she flung the door open and guided Sirius down the steps at a rapid pace. Sirius stumbled multiple times, but Bella was able to catch him each time before he fell.

“Hey!” the voice inside of the dark dormitory called after them.

“Keep _running_ ,” Bella whispered to Sirius. She threw a frantic look over her shoulder and prayed the person wouldn’t be following them. The staircase ended and they arrived at the common room. Bella was less than surprised to see it decorated in green and silver. 

She pushed Sirius to the exit.

“I can’t _run_ ,” Sirius gasped as they tumbled out of the exit.

Bella nodded. “Just to the end of the hallway,” she said and kept her hand latched onto his arm.

Within seconds of diving behind a large suit of armor, a bright light from the end of a wand flooded the hallway.

Bella held a hand over Sirius’ mouth. Unable to stop himself, Sirius’ legs slowly began to give out underneath him and he slid down the wall into a sitting position. With wide eyes, Bella kneeled and quickly grabbed Sirius’ shoulder with her one good hand. She fought to hold him upright and not fall into the light beside them.

 

However, much to Bella’s relief, the student left the hallway as soon as they had entered it, clearly too tired to contemplate possible intruders in their bedroom.

Bella felt herself physically sigh. She dropped to the ground and fell weakly against Sirius’ chest. A smile covered her face. “Sirius,” she whispered. “We’re out.”

Sirius was breathing heavily. He tipped slowly to the right and fell to the ground. He did not care that he was lying at odd angles, as long as he could catch his breath. “Out of what?” he wheezed.

“Trouble,” she said with an even bigger grin. “We made it out of Carisbrooke Castle – we made it out of the dormitory – we’re _home free_ , Sirius!”

Sirius managed to sit up with a heavy groan. He took a big breath to speak. “Well,” he muttered, “what about Filch?”

Bella laughed. “Honestly,” she muttered with a pat on Sirius’ knee and a kiss on his cheek, “at this point, I think I would hug that old man if I met him tonight.”

Sirius laughed with her, but his chuckle quickly turned into a cough.

“Are you alright?” Bella asked in concern for Sirius’ health. She placed a hand on his shoulder and moved closer to study his face.

Sirius held his hands for Bella to see once again, but this time explained what had happened. “It was wandless magic.”

Bella gasped. She had been unaware of this problem. She had assumed that his fragile state was because he had been running for so long without a break. Bella forgot any worries she had and quickly jumped back into hero mode. “We need to get you to the Hospital Wing.”

Sirius nodded between coughs.

The pair got to their feet for a second time and made their way slowly to the opposite end of Hogwarts. As they reached the infirmary door, Bella held her good arm up in the air and pounded on the door with her fist.

“Madame Pomfrey!” she shouted.

There was no answer.

Bella pounded again. “Madame Pomfrey, wake up!”

Bella paused as she heard feet shuffling across the floor and a soft muttering of someone speaking under their breath.

“ – wake me up in the middle of the night,” the voice muttered as it got closer. “Can’t _possibly_ wait until the morning…”

A key turned in the lock and the door to the infirmary opened and filled the hallway with blinding light. Madame Pomfrey stood with her arms folded across her nightgown.

“ _Black_?” she shrieked, furious. “Oh, I should have _known_ you merely wanted to irritate me.” Madame Pomfrey reached for the door knob, ready to slam the door in their faces, but Bella stuck her foot in the door.

“Wait,” Bella said quickly. She pulled Sirius into the light as Madame Pomfrey opened the door again.

She gasped.

Sirius was hunched over with one arm gripping his stomach and the other just barely holding onto Bella’s shoulders. His dark hair fell forward and covered his eyes, squeezed together in pain. Sweat trickled down his pale face and soaked through the muddy shirt he was wearing.

“Mr. Black!” she said softly. She quickly examined his weak form and walked him inside to the nearest bed. “You look absolutely _dreadful_ , dear.”

“Thank you,” Sirius managed to smile at his sarcasm. He rolled onto a bed and sighed heavily as he succumbed to sleep.

Bella couldn’t help but smile as Madame Pomfrey ran back and forth from her medicine cabinets to Sirius’ bed, shoving multiple potions down his throat.

“What on earth _happened_?” Madame Pomfrey asked Bella frantically.

“Wandless magic,” Bella explained. “And a lot of it.”

Pomfrey shook her head. “I can’t tell you how many students I get in here each year that accidentally – or purposefully – use wandless magic. They just don’t understand how much power it drains from your body.” Madame Pomfrey shook her head sadly as she looked down at Sirius with a caring, motherly expression in her eyes. “Especially from the older students.”

Bella nodded and watched as Sirius closed his eyes. His breathing became steadier.

“Dumbledore is the only man I know that can use wandless magic without it affecting his health,” Pomfrey continued. She shook her head at the blisters covering Sirius’ hands. “But even still, I’m curious to find out what sort of spell Sirius used to drain this much energy from his body. Not to mention, whether he was able to use wandless magic on command or if this was just some accident. It’s hard either way, but much more advanced, by far, when you’re able to use magic at any given moment.” Madame Pomfrey paused in an attempt to get an explanation. Bella just smiled. After no response came, she continued speaking to fill up the empty silence in the room.

Bella sat down on the bed next to Sirius. She noticed Madame Pomfrey care for Sirius as if he were her own son. _He’s the closest to a son she’ll ever get here_ , Bella realized. _He’s always hurt, and they must get to know each other pretty well._ Pomfrey carefully tucked him into the bed and fluffed his pillows, slowly nursing him back to health.

Bella found herself drifting slowly into a haze as Madame Pomfrey turned into a blur moving across the room.

 

With a sigh, Bella let herself relax for the first time in hours.

(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%) Breanna (%)(%)(%)(%)(%)(%)

Breanna felt her breath catch in her throat as her feet hit solid ground.

“Remus?” she whispered in the darkness. Breanna’s voice constricted as tears filled her throat. “Dad?”

“I’m right here,” Remus whispered behind her. He took her hand and warmed it in his. “It’s alright, Breanna, we’re - ”

“ _Hush_.”

Breanna and Remus did not speak. Through the dark, Breanna saw her father make a big arm gesture. He pointed towards a door directly in front of them.

Remus understood quickly and pulled Breanna to the door. He gently ushered her into the empty staircase.

“Watch your step,” he whispered in her ear.

Breanna clenched onto the railing as she numbly tiptoed down the stairs and through the empty blue and bronze common room. She did not stop or turn to look back until Remus’ hand squeezed hers and spun her around. She felt Remus’ arms enclose her frail body and she collapsed into him. She wasn’t afraid to hold back her sobs any longer.

“We made it,” Remus whispered. He felt a shadow of a smile cross his lips. Subtly, he began to rock her back and forth, stroking her hair and rubbing her back. “Don’t cry, Breanna. We’re safe.”

“But _Lily_ ,” she squeaked with tears coating her voice. “And what about _James_? What do we do _now_?”

Mr. Roysen entered the picture and patted his daughter awkwardly on the back. He eyed Remus hesitantly as his paternal instincts kicked in, but reluctantly backed away. “We’ve got to inform the Headmaster,” he said firmly. “He needs to know everything that happened.”

Remus nodded, backing away from Breanna carefully. “Are you ready, Breanna?”

Breanna shook her head. Her hair was sticking out at multiple odd angles from her messy pony tail. “What about James and Lily?” she said quietly.

“Nothing for us to do anymore,” Mr. Roysen whispered. “Our only chance is to inform Dumbledore in time for him to send Aurors.”

Lacing his fingers gently through Breanna’s, Remus stepped towards Mr. Roysen. “If you don’t mind, sir,” he said softly, “I think it might be better if Breanna and I are able to get to the Hospital Wing while you and Dumbledore are able to speak. If that’s alright with you,” Remus added quickly as Mr. Roysen’s eyes flickered back and forth between the pair.

Turning on his heel, Mr. Roysen nodded and squeezed his daughter’s shoulder affectionately. “I’ll alert Professor Dumbledore right away. You two go straight to the nurse’s, got it?”

Remus nodded, rocking Breanna in his arms.

Her father nodded once back to the couple and high-tailed it to the headmaster’s office.

Breanna pulled her hair out from behind her ears and began playing with the ends of it. She pulled at the sleeve of her ripped Hogwarts uniform and tried to wipe away the tears on her face. “Do you think Dumbledore will make it in time?” she whispered. She looked directly into Remus’ eyes, begging him to tell her what she wanted to hear.

Remus felt his knees shake involuntarily. “Dumbledore will make it,” he assured her. “I promise.”

“But what if he _doesn’t_?” Breanna hiccupped. She clutched her throat. Slowly, she began to walk down the dark hallway. “What if they _die_ , Remus?” Breanna swallowed. “Like my mother.”

“Impossible,” he muttered, He struggled to keep up with Breanna’s slow speed. Remus felt the blood drain from his head and he began to sway, feeling light-headed. He silently recalled the wound in the back of his head and began to feel the pain he had been forced to ignore for hours. “Don’t even _think_ things like that, Breanna.”

“You don’t know what will happen!” she argued. Breanna spun to face Remus and realized she was several steps in front of him. “For all we know, Lily and James are lying _dead_ at Carisbrooke Castle.”

Remus quickly shook these thoughts from his head as his chest tightened uncomfortably. Impulsively, he made the decision to distract Breanna from her thoughts. “A little help here,” he croaked as he leaned on the wall for support. His head throbbed painfully and he immediately held his hand up to his head.

Breanna returned to Remus’ side and stared deeply into his eyes. “What is it?”

Remus pointed to the large gash at the back of his head and closed his eyes in a feeble attempt to pretend the pain wasn’t there. “The pain’s finally beginning to set in after we finally stepped out of panic mode. Well,” he muttered miserably, “not _completely_ out of panic mode…”

Breanna said nothing more. Wrapping an arm around Remus’ waist, they limped to the Hospital Wing.

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

“Dear,” Madame Pomfrey sighed, holding a hand on her hip, “you need to take your potion!”

“What about Sirius?” Bella asked and raised her voice defiantly. She threw a glance at her sleeping companion behind her shoulder and felt her heart go out to him. “He’s drained of almost every inch of magic!” Bella crossed her legs with a note of finality and held her arm in a limp position in the air. “I can wait,” she reasoned and pushed the potion away from her mouth with her only good arm.

“Nonsense,” the nurse explained. “I’ve treated him as much as I can at the moment. The only thing left for him to recuperate is some _sleep_ ,” Pomfrey stressed with a stomp of her foot, “which he seems to be doing quite comfortably for now. And that leaves me to tend after _you_ ,” she said and jabbed a large spoon into Bella’s unsuspecting mouth.

Bella gagged on the potion. She spit it out and wiped her mouth on the sleeve of her torn robes. “That stuff’s _horrible_ ,” she said softly. Bella leaned over the side of her bed to watch the putrid, green liquid she had just spit onto the floor begin to bubble and burn small holes into the infirmary floor.

“Arabella _Figg_!” Madame Pomfrey scolded. She immediately capped the potion and set it down. She then promptly thrust her hand into her pocket and pulled out her wand. With a precise downward swish, the potion disappeared and the floor looked brand new. “You’re wasting my supply of potions!” Pomfrey glared at Bella with her hands on her hips as if Bella was a child in trouble. “If you try and pull that move one more time, I can leave your arm in two pieces!”

Bella rolled her eyes. “If you would have _told_ me you were going to shove a spoonful of _that_ down my throat,” Bella jabbed at the floor where the potion burn used to be, “I wouldn’t have spit it out after - ”

“ _Child_ ,” the nurse interrupted without wasting any time on filling up a second spoon with more of the horrible liquid, “had I not tried to trick you, you would never have taken the potion _willingly_!”

“And you think I’ll take it _now_ after you tried to _kill_ me?” Bella exaggerated. She attempted to look menacing with a broken arm, muddy robes, and a horrible stench of sewer water emitting from her tangled mop of wet hair. “I don’t _think_ so.”

Madame Pomfrey narrowed her eyes with a new spoonful of the potion in her hand. “Drink it or I will have to use magic to force it down your throat.” She held her wand threateningly in her other hand. “Take your pick.”

Bella rolled her eyes and finally agreed to take the potion. Bella began to feel the drowsiness of the potion set in; she leaned back against the pillows in the bed she was lying on.

Without a chance to close her eyes, the doors to the room creaked open with a soft, “Madame Pomfrey?”

The nurse huffed and strode across the room with annoyance written across her face. “ _Why_ is it that everyone feels the need to show up at - ”

“ _Breanna_!” Bella shrieked with joy. She jumped off of her bed and reached the opened infirmary doors before Madame Pomfrey could. “Remus – you’re _back_!”

Breanna smiled with tears in her eyes and hugged her excited friend. “Just took the portkey,” she said softly. Remus smiled and Bella opened her arms to greet him. He quickly cringed and shook his head with a frown. Breanna pushed Remus towards the closest bed to her and forced him to lie down.

“Sirius and I ended up in one of the Slytherin dormitories,” Bella whispered as she followed Breanna’s constant movement around the room to find certain remedies to help Remus feel better. She ignored the painful effects the potion was having on her arm. “Which dormitory did you land in?”

“Sirius?” Breanna searched the room for and sighed. “Oh – Sirius,” Breanna mourned as her eyes fell on Sirius’ sleeping form. She added two pillows to Remus’ bed that allowed him to sit up without any effort. “Ravenclaw,” she said quickly in response to Bella’s previous question. With a great deal of hesitation on Breanna’s part, Madame Pomfrey swept in and took Breanna’s job and gave Remus several potions.

Breanna sank into a waiting chair besides Remus’ bed. She held up her hand and Remus immediately took it. He ignored the dried blood that covered Breanna’s hand when she nursed his head injury.

 

Bella nodded at Breanna’s response with a grin. “I wonder which dormitory Lily and James showed up in.”

Both Breanna and Remus threw a desperate glance at the other. They paled even more than they had already. And with several tears and a solemn shake of Breanna’s head, Remus turned toward Bella and delivered the bad news.

_.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._ Peter _.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._.-._

Peter felt his feet hit the ground with a solid thud. He held his arms in the air to steady his balance as he began to wobble from the landing.

The boy did not move for several seconds. After he heard no noise from the dormitory, Peter slowly dropped his hands to his side and puffed his chest out with a sense of achievement. _I pulled one over on them,_ he thought with the realization that none of the other Marauders or girls had found out his identity tonight. And so far, he was still safe.

Peter checked each bed as he passed it. He gave a deep sigh of relief as he found that none of the other three boys were sleeping in their usual beds.

Peter tore the dark cloak over his head. In his haste, Peter heard a ripping noise, but ignored it and wadded it up as quickly as he could. He threw open his school trunk and shoved the ball of clothing to the very bottom. With one last swift motion, Peter changed from his clothes into a set of pajamas and jumped into his bed as if he had been lying there all night long.

He couldn’t help but grin.

_Home free._

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

 “Bella - ”

Bella waved her hand at Remus and looked away. She took in a deep breath and held it. “You’re lying,” she accused softly.

Remus wiped away a tear with his free hand and sat up. He tried to get out of the bed, but Breanna stopped him. “Why would I _lie_ about something this serious?” Remus nearly shouted at the top of his lungs. He was walking on the edge of a cliff, about to jump off and lose all common sense; he had been pushed to the limit further tonight than any other night and thought he was going to have a mental break down. “James is my _best friend_!” Remus shouted. Tears spilled from his eyes as he was at a loss for words.

“They can’t,” Bella protested. She crossed her arms and refused to look at Breanna or Remus. “Not after – everything…”

“Look,” Remus whispered harshly, “I don’t want to have to believe it anymore than you do.” Remus took a deep breath and spoke the words no one had been brave enough to say out loud.

“They’re _not_ coming back.”

Bella shook her head. She looked from Breanna to Remus. _It’s not true,_ she tried to convince herself. _It can’t be – why them? Why not me?_

Bella had walked herself back into a corner. She jumped and turned the instant she felt the one of the beds against the middle of her back. Bella noticed Sirius lying there, partially awake. She held a hand to her mouth to stop her loud crying.

_He’ll be crushed,_ Bella realized as her stomach dropped out entirely. _James is his best friend. Sirius has already lost so much; he can’t lose his best friend, too._

Sirius moaned in pain at his aching muscles. His right eye cracked open a fraction of an inch and he stared at Bella’s tear-stained face. It wasn’t long before both eyes were open and Sirius was attempting to sit up.

Bella shook her head and pushed on his shoulder in an attempt to keep Sirius lying down. He did not pay attention to Bella, but grabbed her hand and looked into her face. Bella gave in and sobbed heavily onto his shoulder. Sirius allowed her to lean on him and moved over to make room on the bed for her.

“What happened?” Sirius asked with dread the moment he saw Breanna and Remus sitting on the bed across from him. Both were in the same condition as Bella.

“What’s wrong?” Sirius whispered.

“They’re not coming back,” Bella whispered into Sirius’ ear.

Sirius’ eyes grew wide and the blood left his face. He put aside all of his pains and aches and grabbed Bella’s shoulders. He pushed her out to arm length.

Bella’s body frame collapsed in his hands, but she continued sobbing with nothing but Sirius’ hands to support her.

“What,” Sirius spoke steadily with all of his energy, “did you just say?”

“Lily – James – they’re not coming _back_.”

Sirius shook his head. “Why?” he whispered. His shoulders slumped with Bella’s and his hands dropped to his side in a defeated manor. Bella frowned through her tears and reached for Sirius. She moved toward him and hugged him with all of her strength even though he did not hug her back. His body was lifeless.

“I’m sorry, Sirius,” Remus’ voice echoed across the empty room. “We couldn’t – Breanna and I – we weren’t able to - ”

Breanna sent a sad look in Remus’ direction, and he knew to stop speaking. It was the one time his words couldn’t solve the problem.

Sirius did not show any emotion on his face. His speechless behavior expressed it all.

Madame Pomfrey glided out from her office and approached the awkward scene with hesitation. “Children,” she spoke softly, “what on earth _happened_ here?”

“That’s exactly what we’ve come to figure out.”

Five sets of eyes all focused on the door to the infirmary. Dumbledore and Mr. Roysen stepped through.

“Dad,” Breanna muttered, staring at the two, tall forms. “Sir,” she addressed Professor Dumbledore. “What are you doing here?”

“Besides asking for some information,” Dumbledore announced with a tight smile on his lips, “we came to deliver these wanderers.”

With only the noise of Dumbledore’s and Mr. Roysen’s shuffling feet, Lily and James squeezed through the doorway, hand in hand.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“If you don’t mind,” Lily said with a smile to the astonished crowd, “we’re in need of some medical attention.”

Bella squealed in a voice she didn’t realize she had. She rolled off the bed and attacked Lily, encircling her arms around the red-head’s body.

“I can’t believe it,” Bella laughed into Lily’s hair. She did not loosen her grip in the slightest, even when Breanna and Remus had joined them.

“You had us worried,” Remus spoke in a low voice to James. He shook his head in relief and laughed freely.

James did not respond to Remus. He, instead, looked over at Sirius’ bed. Sirius had not moved an inch since the pair had entered the door. James was not sure what sort of a reaction he would get from Sirius.

Sirius said nothing. He stood and dragged his feet to the group of his rejoicing friends. He turned to James and slowly raised his head to eye level.

The room fell silent as the onlookers watched on with curiosity.

Sirius’ mouth opened and they all held their breath for what he was about to say.

“So,” he said in a quiet voice, “you made it out?”

James nodded nervously, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Just barely.”

“You,” Sirius swallowed, shaking his head with a smile, “bloody bastard.”

With his final words, Sirius threw an arm around James, gave him a hug, and began sobbing on his shoulder.

Lily felt her own eyes sting at the sight of the two best friend’s reunion.

The group laughed with tears pouring from their eyes as they all hugged each other.

It was Dumbledore that interrupted the scene.

“Poppy,” he said in his soft, comforting tone, “if you could just tend to Lily and James quickly, and then leave us to speak for a moment or two?”

Pomfrey did not object to the headmaster’s plan and immediately got to work, feeding Lily and James potion after potion.

“They need bed rest, Professor,” Pomfrey said strictly. “Be sure all six of them have time to rest when you’re through speaking with them.”

“I wouldn’t think of anything but their health,” Dumbledore nodded kindly.

Pomfrey nodded with a final glance at the group. She spun around and marched into her office.

The group turned towards Dumbledore with an inquisitive look.

“Where should I start?” Dumbledore smirked. He waved his wand at the infirmary doors and at Madame Pomfrey’s office, locking and sound proofing them both. He found a chair and sat down with a sigh. “Perhaps what happened?”

Breanna raised an eyebrow. “I thought that’s what my dad told you, Professor.”

“He wasn’t present at all locations.”

The group took turns, each telling their parts of the story. They included every detail whether it was good or bad. They told Dumbledore about leaving Hogwarts ground several hours earlier, Sirius using wandless magic, and the Legilimancy Breanna now possessed. The room hushed as Lily and James wrapped up the story.

“I was fighting a Death Eater, and dropped my portkey.” James swallowed. “That’s when I saw that Voldemort had Lily.”

Lily nodded hurriedly. She left her bed inconspicuously to move closer to James. “And then James – _fought_ him.”

Dumbledore stopped the story. “Voldemort?” he asked. “You fought with Voldemort?”

James smiled, looking down. “I’m still alive,” he muttered, “but I can’t say I did that well against him. He wasn’t even hit once.”

“The fact of the matter, however,” Dumbledore beamed, “is not that you defeated him, but you were able to survive it to see another day.” Dumbledore leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. He held a hand to his chin and smiled. “Speaking of surviving…” Dumbledore trailed off with a hint of a smile playing at his lips.

Lily blushed a deep shade of red. “My fault,” she muttered.

“Fault?” James questioned with a soft chuckle. “You may call it that, but I’d call it _brilliance_.”

Bella was about to topple off of the edge of her bed from the anticipation. “ _Whatever_ you call it,” she shouted, “what did you _do_?”

Lily nodded to herself and told the story. “I took James’ hand,” she demonstrated with their intertwined hands, “took his wand,” she held up a wand, “and I apparated ourselves out.” The room sighed in unison, relieved to finally know their secret. “The closest place to Hogwarts that allowed apparition was Hogsmeade, which is why it took us so long to get back.” Lily squeezed James’ hand with a broad smile on her face. “We ran into Dumbledore and Mr. Roysen in the hallway minutes ago.”

Breanna began to cry. “We thought you would be stuck there,” she sobbed with one hand covering her mouth. “We were just around the corner at the castle and saw you with _out_ a portkey the moment _our_ portkey took us back.”

Remus put an arm around Breanna and pulled her into his chest and let her cry.

The sobs diminished with the laughter. All eyes focused on Dumbledore once again.

“Miss Evans,” Dumbledore spoke calmly, “unless you are holding an apparition license, what you did – twice tonight – was illegal.”

Lily’s smile quickly disappeared, replaced with the look of a child who had been caught sneaking cookies before dinner.

“Stealing school brooms, leaving Hogwarts campus, searching for danger in the middle of the night,” Dumbledore reprimanded with a shake of his head. “Hardly any such skills I should be proud of.”

Lily looked up, raising an eyebrow with suspicion.

“But yet, I seem to be grinning like the happy old man that I am.”

The tension in the air died away with multiple chuckles.

“Mr. Roysen is back in our care,” Dumbledore beamed at the father, “Breanna has gained the power of Legilimancy, Sirius has successfully used wandless magic without long term damage, and Lily…” Dumbledore chuckled at his next comment. “Well, we know that Lily will pass her apparition exam.”

The room laughed.

“What do we do, now?” Sirius asked from his quiet corner in the room.

Dumbledore nodded. “I want to keep this, uh – escapade – to ourselves for now. If reporters or, Merlin forbid, the Ministry of Magic should find that you wandered out of this castle, many questions will be raised, and I don’t want any secrets of my pupils to be revealed ruthlessly across the front page of the Daily Prophet.” Everyone nodded in agreement. “I will simply tell the Ministry that Mr. Roysen escaped from the Dark Lord’s grip, and he wishes to keep his experience private.”

“Here, here,” Mr. Roysen piped up for the first time in that hour.

“Now,” Dumbledore continued. He stood from his chair and circled the room. “I’ve sent a letter to the ministry, explaining Mr. Roysen’s unexpected return and the castle from which he escaped.” Dumbledore hesitated as he asked his next question. “I must ask,” he started, “was there any Death Eater at Carisbrooke Castle that you would be able to identify in front of the Wizengamot at a hearing?”

Bella nodded quickly and leaned forward. “There was a man that almost killed Sirius and me,” she said hastily. “They called him Brokey.”

“And I knocked out one of the Death Eaters, too,” Remus said. “From _Hogwarts_ – it was Rookwood!”

Dumbledore nodded slowly. He seemed unfazed by the news. “Unfortunately,” he said softly, “I was asking Mr. Roysen.” The group didn’t understand. “According to the story Mr. Roysen will be telling, none of you were ever involved.”

Their hearts sank. “So there’s nothing we can do.” Sirius asked in a straight tone without question. “Couldn’t we lie and say that Mr. Roysen saw them?”

Dumbledore shook his head sadly. “The best we can do is keep an eye on them.”

“Load of good that would do…” Breanna trailed off, disappointed.

“I’m terribly sorry,” Dumbledore agreed with them. He returned to his chair and waved his wand at it, sending it flying back to a table. “But I suggest that you all catch up on some _needed_ rest,” Dumbledore said, looking particularly in Sirius’ direction. “I’m sure you will have plenty to talk about to keep you entertained these next few days before you return home.”

Dumbledore bid them a good night and chauffeured Mr. Roysen out the door to St. Mungo’s.

“Speaking of things to talk about,” Bella said in an excited whisper the minute the doors to the infirmary closed, “I seem to have noticed something a bit peculiar.”

Breanna raised an eyebrow at Bella as she forced Remus to lie down in a bed. “What’s that?”

“A little something right here,” she said. Bella crossed one leg over the other in a relaxed manner on the foot of Sirius’ bed and pointed at Lily and James. “For some reason,” she grinned, “they’ve been holding hands ever since they returned. May I inquire, exactly, why?”

Lily and James blushed.

!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~Lily~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!

“Close your _eyes_!”

Lily couldn’t help but smile. She closed her eyes and gave her hand to James. “What is it?” she asked. “I don’t think I can take any more surprises this year.”

Lily didn’t get a response. She was tempted to peek, but a warm hand grabbed hers and began dragging her down a hallway.

James didn’t say anything when he pulled Lily down multiple corridors. Many times he spun her around so that she would not be able to know where they were heading.

He stopped Lily for a few moments in a deserted hallway. She listened intently, trying to pick up specific noises so that she could figure out where James had led her.

She started moving again, but for not very long.

“Keep your eyes closed.”

“What do you think I’ve been doing?” Lily laughed, tempted to squint out of the corners of her eyes.

“I mean it, Lily.”

He let go of her hand and Lily shuddered.

“Alright,” Lily whispered, again wondering what James was doing. She heard the scuffling of footsteps moving around her and could just barely smell a faint aroma of food reach her nose.

In a jolt of surprise, Lily felt a wand poke her in the middle of her back. “James?” she whispered with a hint of fear in her voice.

James touched her arm. She felt him lean in to her ear. “Trust me, Lily.”

She nodded with a swallow.

Less than a minute later, James stepped away and said softly, “Open your eyes.”

Lily opened her eyes. She couldn’t stop the gasp that escaped her.

She was standing in the middle of Helen’s room. The furniture had been cleared out and replaced with wooden tables of varying height scattered around the edge of the room. Candles were placed on each table and lit the room with a steady, warm glow. In the center of the room was a small table with rose petals scattered across the surface. Two plates of food sat on opposite sides, waiting to be eaten. Lily noticed that the ceiling had been charmed to look exactly like the ceiling of the Great Hall. She smiled as a shooting star went past.

Lily lowered her gaze to James and held a hand to her mouth as tears sprung to her eyes. He had transformed his normal Hogwarts robes into a silky, black dress robe.

“James,” Lily said in awe with a hiccup of laughter, “you never dress up for anything!”

He shrugged, going red. “Well, I thought it called for the occasion.”

Lily laughed, unable to hold tears back. “Why didn’t you tell _me_ to dress up? I would have, you know…”

James stepped closer to her with a secret smile on his face. “You did.”

“No, I did - ”

Lily couldn’t speak. She had looked down at her clothes, and found that James had, in fact, transformed her clothes into a long, elegant, white dress robe.

As Lily admired her dress robe, she began to hear slow music play throughout the room.

James quickly hid his wand with a guilty face and took Lily’s hand again. He leaned down and kissed it while staring up at Lily the entire time. “For you, my dear.” James smiled and pulled out a single lily from behind his back and handed it to her.

Lily held back her excitement, and tried to play it smooth like James was. “Thank you, kind gentleman.”

James hid his smile. He offered out his arm to Lily. “Care to dance?”

“A dance?” Lily asked with a smile. “I suppose a quick one wouldn’t hurt.”

James took Lily’s hand and spun her twice, catching her in his arms on the second spin. He swayed her back and forth with a goofy smile on his face.

“So?” James asked with curiosity. “Am I as bad as you thought I’d be?”

Lily shrugged. “I guess not…”

James’ jaw dropped.

Lily began to laugh. “Sarcasm, James,” she smiled.

His shoulders dropped in relief. “Don’t scare me,” he scolded her.

James spun Lily out and back in, ending in a dip. Lily stayed there and looked up. “It’s not my fault you’re so gullible.”

Laughs filled the room. James pulled Lily up, spun her once, and stood with his forehead against hers, unmoving. Lily did not speak.

“I love you, Lily Evans.”

Her breath caught in her throat. She swallowed.

“I love you, James Potter.”

=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=Sirius=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

“Oy,” Sirius shouted. Their dormitory walls shook from the deep rumble of his voice. “Wake up, Pete.”

Peter rolled out of bed and landed on his backside. “What is it, Sirius?” Peter did a double take. “Sirius!”

The two boys laughed and joked with each other. “How are you feeling?” Peter asked, looking genuinely concerned. “I’m surprised Pomfrey let you out of the Hospital Wing!”

Sirius shrugged. “She sort-of had to,” he muttered, sitting on the edge of his bed. “It’s the last day before we board the Hogwarts Express. I still have to pack my things, you know.”

“Of course,” Peter agreed with a nod of his head. “Do you need any help at all?” he asked. “You must be exhausted from this – wandless magic, wasn’t it?”

Sirius nodded, unable to resist a grin. “I probably won’t be able to do magic for another few weeks,” he boasted proudly. “But it was for a good cause, right, Pete?” Sirius slugged Peter on the arm.

“Sure,” Peter nodded, cringing as he felt a bruise begin to form on his upper arm.

There was a knock on the open door to their room. “May I come in?”

Both boys looked over into the hallway and saw Bella standing at the door with a hand on her hip.

“Sure, sure,” Peter grinned. “I was just about to leave, actually.” He waved at the couple and walked out the door. “You two have fun, now.”

Sirius smirked at Bella once Peter left and wrapped an arm around her waist. “Oh, I’m sure we could find _something_ to do.” He rocked back and forth with her in his arms.

“But someone still needs to pack.”

Sirius groaned and rolled his eyes. “Way to ruin the moment, Bella.”

The girl laughed. “What moment?” she asked. “I hardly call that a moment. Now,” she tilted her head and backed away from Sirius, still holding his hand, “the little date James took Lily on last night?” Bella said. “Lily told me all about it – and I think it’s time _you_ take a leaf out of James’ book.”

The room erupted into laughter. “ _Me_?” Sirius choked out as if it were the funniest thing in the world. “Bella, what you don’t understand is that he got every move _from_ me.”

“Uh huh,” Bella nodded. She slowly walked around the room and began to pick up Sirius’ books and throw them in his trunk for him. “I think I’ll believe it when I see it.”

“Oh, so _that’s_ how it is, now?” Sirius laughed. “Well, then,” he sighed, “I can tell I have some competition I need to beat, now.”

Bella smiled and reached for Sirius’ hand. She gave him a hug. “Apparently the student has surpassed the teacher.”

Sirius couldn’t help but roll his eyes. “Not in a long shot.” He leaned in to kiss her but stopped just before their lips met. “You just wait,” he said softly. “You’ll never even know its coming and then - ” Sirius kissed her. He pulled away slowly, glad to see that Bella had a dazed, starry-eyed expression. “Next thing you know, I’ll be the prince of your dreams and you won’t be able to stop thinking about me.”

Bella smiled. “Too late.”

<^><^><^><^><^><^><^> Remus <^><^><^><^><^><^><^>

“What a nice day,” Remus sighed with a smile tugging at his lips. “Don’t you think?”

Breanna did not answer.

Remus stopped walking and watched with a bit of amusement as she continued walking without him. He jogged to catch up to her and took a step in front of her in order to cut her path off.

“What is it?” Breanna frowned. “Why’d you do that?”

“Well,” Remus muttered, “you were basically acting like a walking zombie.” He stuffed his hands into his pockets and rocked back and forth on his feet. “I thought you probably wouldn’t want to accidentally walk into the lake or something…”

Breanna laughed at what Remus said. “I’m sorry,” she said with an exhausted look. “I’ve just – I can’t stop thinking, lately.”

Remus gave a casual shrug. “Absolutely,” he said. “And you have every right to be.”

“But,” Breanna shook her head with a confused face, “I don’t _want_ to be.”

“Some things you can’t control,” Remus said smoothly, “and your brain happens to be one of those things. Because of certain things a few days ago,” Remus said, referring to Mrs. Roysen’s death and Breanna’s newly found Legilimancy skills, “you’re life will be changed.” Again, Remus gave another shrug, but with an air of helplessness. “Nothing will be the same,” he simply stated. “And that’s a fact that I can’t change – as much as I want to.”

Breanna smiled solemnly at Remus, thankful for his constant presence at her side. She reached for his hand and squeezed it.

Remus continued. “It’s natural after a major event takes place that you worry about what things will change.” Remus wrinkled his forehead as he thought of examples. “Having a dad, no mom, studies in school, jobs outside of school – these things open and close numerous doors.”

“Actually,” Breanna interrupted with a surprisingly strong voice, “that’s not – _quite_ – what I was thinking of.” She pulled her hand away from Remus’ and began to fidget with both of her hands.

“Really?” Remus asked, puzzled. It was all _he_ had been able to think of lately, and was surprised Breanna wouldn’t be doing the same thing. “Well, then, what _were_ you thinking of?”

Breanna blushed and looked at her feet. “You.”

Remus felt blood rise to his cheeks as well. “What about me?”

“Oh, you know,” she said in an offhand voice, “just – what will happen with us because of… this _thing_ ,” she said, waving a hand by her head. She looked up slowly to find Remus smiling lovingly down at her.

“Legilimancy?” Remus asked calmly. He then pulled Breanna to the bank of the calm lake and sat her down beside himself. “Why on earth would you be worried about us?”

Breanna pulled her legs up to her chest and folded her arms around them. She laid her head down on her knees and stared out at the reflection of the setting sun on the lake. “It’ll be awkward,” she simply said. “I thought you’d be worried about me being able to use Legilimancy at any given time.”

“Worried?” Remus asked with a chuckle. He watched Breanna closely and finally began to notice why she hadn’t looked at him for the past several days. “Breanna, I think it’s the coolest thing in the world!” he said enthusiastically, trying to reassure her that he wouldn’t let anything ruin their relationship. “I think it’s great that your parents gave you what you have.”

Breanna didn’t smile. “Aren’t you scared that I might know something you didn’t want me to know?”

“I have nothing to hide.”

The words said it all. Breanna turned to look Remus right in the eyes for the first time in days. With small beads of tears forming at the corners of her eyes, she whispered, “You’re serious.”

Remus nodded with a smile. “There aren’t any secrets I need to keep hidden from you, Breanna.”

Breanna nodded with a trembling lower lip. She slowly tipped over and fell into Remus’ open arms. She couldn’t stop crying. Remus’ reaction had been the very first thing she had thought about, and now she finally knew the answer. No matter what, she would make it.

“Don’t cry,” Remus whispered, rubbing her shoulder and squeezing her hand. “It’s alright, everything’s ok.”

Breanna sat up and turned to Remus with a smile. “I know its – _Remus_!”

Remus froze with an eyebrow raised. He had not been expecting this dramatic mood change. “Yes…?”

“You _didn’t_!”

“I didn’t what?” Remus asked, thoroughly confused. “Breanna, I have no idea what you’re going on about.”

Breanna shifted and sat on her legs, grinning. “You bought me a _bracelet_!”

Remus’ eyes went wide. “But how did you – Breanna, that was supposed to be a _surprise_!”

She bobbed up and down, elated. “I’m surprised!” she said with shining eyes.

“I meant,” Remus corrected her with exasperation, “that _I_ wanted to be the one to give it to you! _Not_ having you read my _mind_ to find out…”

“Well,” Breanna comforted, “you will be.” She grinned and held out her hands.

Remus couldn’t hold back his laugh. “I guess now is as good as any other time,” he muttered to himself with a smile. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, silver chain, woven together in a beautiful, intricate pattern. “I hope you like it.”

Breanna released an overwhelming sigh as she saw the bracelet dangle before her eyes. “Even if it were ugly – which it’s not,” she hastily reassured Remus, “I would like it anyway.”

Breanna held out her wrist for Remus to clasp the bracelet closed on. She held it up to the darkening sky and put a hand to her mouth as the last of the setting sun reflected off of the bracelet.

“You look beautiful,” Remus whispered, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind. “More than anything.”

Breanna smiled and rested her head back on Remus’ shoulder as they watched the sun set. She felt his chest rumble as he spoke again.

“Don’t you want to know if I was telling the truth?” Remus asked.

Breanna shrugged with a smile and continued watching the lake. She took both of Remus’ hands and wrapped them around her shoulders to keep her safe and warm.

“I don’t need to."

|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+| Bella |+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|+|

Bella crawled on her bed and pulled out her diary and a quill.

_It seems like it’s been decades since I’ve last written anything. So much has changed since the last time I wrote anything – but I can’t say what happened. It’s top secret, Dumbledore’s orders. (It’s that secret!)_

_Needless to say, though, everyone’s doing well. Sirius and James have been spending their afternoon playing with a new exploding device of some sort instead of packing their trunks like they should be. Lily’s told them countless times to stop acting childish, but they never listen. Besides, I don’t think Lily really minds at all. She could use some kid time every now and then._

_Lily and James have been inseparable since they came back – from that top secret place. I swear! I haven’t seen one without the other this whole week! And then there’s that freaky thing where they’re together so much, they start filling in each other’s sentences. Sirius and I hardly do that. I think._

_Speaking of Sirius – he is going to be in so much trouble if he doesn’t do anything romantic for me! Lily came back last night, telling me all about how much fun and how adorable her date with James was. Then Sirius has the nerve to tell me he taught James everything he knows, but still he’s not planning some sort of a date for me? Of course, he has been on bed rest in the infirmary for the past week and just got out a few hours ago… I’ll cut him some slack – but if nothing shows up within the next few weeks…_

_Breanna’s been a little out of it recently, but we all were expecting it. I mean, her mom just died and she’s got that new – top secret thing. But I think she’ll pull through just fine. Especially since Remus seems to be turning into the James Lily was telling me about last night. He won’t leave Breanna’s side, even when there’s food present! But I’ve got to admit, they’re adorable together._

_Lily just came up to the dormitory and said Breanna and Remus are back from their walk by the lake. (Now I can rag on Sirius about that romantic date, again!) Lily said that Breanna looked happier than she has all week – definitely good news! Lily also said that Sirius drew a new picture of us and is passing it around downstairs – I can’t wait to see it! (I guess it’s worth keeping that big ol’ teddy bear around for something…)_

_The Hogwarts Express leaves tomorrow morning. We’ve already got plans to meet up at my house in a week! It won’t be any more than a few days that we won’t see each other, but I don’t know how I’ll be able to handle it! We’ve all spent more time together within the past year, and I don’t think any of us would trade it for anything._

_As for this diary, I’m going to have to pack it away, now. I don’t want Sirius trying to steal it from me if he sees me with it tomorrow! (There are too many nice things about him in here – I don’t want his head any bigger than it already is!)_

_More later!_

_With love,_

_Bella_

 

The End

 

**Author's Note: Weird to say... The End...**

**Hope everyone enjoyed it! And due to homework getting in the way, I haven't posted the other story I've started, but (hopefully) by November, things should be slowing down, and I'll be able to actually write something, soon!**

**Until then!**

**Yours truly,**

**Amelia Bedelia**


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